Rest for the Wicked
by Astridhe
Summary: For a SINless dancer, life in Seattle is less than ideal. Throw in blood magic and one big mystery just to make it interesting, and you get Anna Sáenz's life. And then, of course, there's the Vory contract killer with an angel's broken wings.
1. Intercession

The flash of lightning always made her think of Church: violent, powerful, and unpredictable. One could never tell when or where the woman would strike, only that it would be devastating for the victim. Not that she could see lightning then, amidst the flashes of strobe light, or hear the roll of thunder above the bass. It was raining in Seattle, but not in Ikon.

Ikon was the favorite nightclub of many a hardcore partier. The fact that it was run by the Russians was an open secret in the shadows of Seattle, but that dangerous reputation only added to the allure. There were no shootouts in the club, but people still died...if they crossed the wrong person. For the most part, it was just fun given a wicked edge by danger. Glowing neon and flashing colors, pretty dancers and the pulse of bass. The air was electric, charged with passion and desperation and euphoria. Everyone in the world could find a gateway to whatever vice they wanted at Ikon, and the Vory v Zakone made it possible. It was where one went to have a good time in a bad way.

Anna had only been working there a month or so, but she enjoyed it. For a girl with no nuyen to her name, it was an easy chance to get out of the gutter. Plus, she could shower at work and there were clothes in the wardrobe. She didn't have a System Identification Number, so they couldn't check to see if she was lying when she said she was eighteen. She was lying, though—one year to go. It had been all good until that night.

Anna struggled against the body pinning her to the wall, tears in her eyes. He was big and strong, muscular human ganger clearly accustomed to taking whatever he wanted. He pinned her slender wrists with one hand and broke open her jeans with the other, grinning ferociously as he did. Her shirt was already torn open from the initial grab, showing a lacy white bra. His friends were standing around, laughing. She was certain that he was going to give them a turn too. "Please, stop!"

He laughed. It was a horrible, cruel sound.

Then a fist hit him in the side of the head, dropping him momentarily to the ground. His assailant had come out of nowhere. Anna found herself looking at an athletic elven woman dressed in business attire, though the sleeves of her red blouse had been rolled up to expose scarred forearms, including a simplistic tattoo of a rising or setting sun and a few flying birds on the inside of her left wrist. Her hands were tattooed too, as if she was wearing ink rings. There were letters across the back of her knuckles: ОМУТ on one hand and МИР on the other. The woman adjusted the cuff where her sleeves had been rolled up. She had dark brown hair and darker eyes that burned like coals. Cruelty lived in her face, hard and set with anger.

"What the drek?" one of his fellow go-gangers shouted. "Do you know who we are?"

The elf's lip curled in a sneer. Anna had never seen a clearer picture of contempt. "Get out."

Her accent was Russian.

"Come on, Jax," one of the gangers said to the man that had been holding her, suddenly nervous. Jax stood up. He was a lot bigger than the Russian elf. "We don't want no Vory trouble."

"Frag you, razorgirl," Jax said harshly. "I paid to get in here. I can do whatever the frag I want."

The woman stepped in and hit him in the face with her palm so hard his feet left the ground and he was sent sprawling backwards. His nose was crushed flat and a few front teeth were cracked. She flicked her wrist and suddenly an eight-inch long metal spur shot out of the heel of her hand. "I do not ask twice," the Russian said casually, watching him.

"Let's get the frag out of here," one of the gangers said, grabbing Jax. They made a hasty retreat towards the exit.

Anna slid to the ground shaking as the tears continued to roll. She felt like she was going to be sick and like her body was filthy from his hands. He'd put them everywhere. She would have wiped at the tears, but that would have meant uncurling from her little ball.

The elf retracted the spur with one smooth movement, then went over and pulled Anna up to her feet by the arm. "You work here."

It didn't really sound like a question, but Anna nodded anyway. "Y-yeah."

The hand around her bicep was tight, but not quite to the point of bruising. Without saying anything else, the Russian escorted her to the dressing room where the dancers changed. Anyone who looked too closely at either of them was rewarded with a lethal glare. There were other girls getting dressed there, changing from street clothes into the tight, revealing attire expected. The elf opened the door and pushed Anna inside. "Help her," she ordered the others before closing the door and vanishing as quickly as she'd appeared.

"Oh my God! Anna, are you alright?" one of the others asked, hurrying over. She was a human, like Anna, a pretty blonde named Leto. "What happened? Did she do this?"

Anna shook her head. "She saved me," she said, barely loud enough to be heard over the music.

Leto gave a small smile. "Looks like you've got an angel," she said, helping the trembling girl sit down.

"Who is she?" Anna took a few deep breaths after she asked to calm her nerves and used her sleeve to wipe away the tears. She was going to have to get changed and go to work in a few minutes, but she needed a chance to pull herself together first.

"Church is a Vory cleaner," Leto explained. "She makes their problems go away."

Anna knew how to read through the slang. Church wasn't scrubbing tables and vacuuming—she was making messy people go away.

"Normally, Church doesn't help anybody," one of the others said softly. Eva hardly ever talked to anyone, except for customers. "She's an ice queen on her good days and a hurricane on her bad ones."

The girl decided in that moment that she didn't care why—she was just grateful that Church had decided to step in. "Is there a way I could thank her?"

"I'm not sure," Leto said thoughtfully. "I mean, she probably enjoyed putting hands on whoever was hurting you. That might be reward enough for her. I doubt she cares much one way or the other."

"Antonov might get jealous too," one of the others called.

Anna felt a cold current. "Sergei Antonov? The sovetnik? They're together?" She'd learned about the Russians a bit while working, enough to know who the big fish were. He was the number twoman in Seattle.

They all laughed. "You're so cute," Leto said, patting Anna's hand. "They fuck now and then, when they're fighting. I don't think they even like each other, but when has fucking ever been about liking?"

Anna had never put much stock in romance, so working at Ikon wasn't a huge shock to the system. It meant that selling her body to strangers didn't come as too much of a loss. At times, she felt used and dirty, but sometimes it was fun and she almost forgot it was a business transaction. There had been a few times where she was scared, like when Church stepped in, but that was why she stayed at Ikon—it was safer to be closeby help. Yuri did his best to keep them safe. The head bouncer was a former Vory enforcer, old enough that he wanted out of the roughest business. The big ork wasn't a nice man, but his heart was slightly softer around the girls. Anna was grateful he was there, even if he frightened her sometimes. He was very insistent that no one damage the Vory's goods.

It was an hour or two before she saw Church again, moving towards the bar like a shark through a school of fish. People seemed to instinctively move out of her way, creating a clear space around her on all sides. Anna slipped away from the other girls she had been planning with—who would be at what tables and the like—murmuring an apology as she did so. She owed Church a thanks, even if she was just a well-dressed cyberpsycho.

"Hey," Anna said almost breathlessly as she caught up with Church. She'd had to struggle a little to get through the crowd. "Church?"

Church turned, those coal-eyes narrowing as they focused on the dancer. "Can I help you?" Her voice was accented, but clear and precise. Her English was good. Her tone was a little forbidding, though.

"I wanted to thank you."

The killer shrugged and picked up her drink. "It is what I do," she said offhandedly, sounding a little less dangerous. Like a relaxed wolverine, maybe. "He was disrespectful."

"Well, thank you. I know you didn't have to step in, but you did." Anna smiled when Church raised an eyebrow at her. "Not used to hearing someone say that?"

"I suppose not," Church said, downing her shot of vodka.

The bartender arrived. Anna liked Mikhail. He was always in a good mood. "So, I hear you almost made a deposit in the body bank at our fine establishment, Church," he said with grin.

Church shrugged and motioned for him to pour her another drink. "He needed to learn some new manners."

"Well, we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to do right by the girls," he said with a wide, toothy smile. "Especially go-gangers causing static. Ikon has a reputation to maintain. I'll be down the bar if you need anything, ladies." He nodded to them both. There was no mention of her paying for that drink. Vory ran the place and their thugs could drink free...not that Church was some street level bruiser. She almost looked like a wageslave, some corp type, except for the fact that the cut of her clothes was a little too fashionable for the average Jane, but she didn't reek of money the way an exec would. Church looked professional, like a woman who took her job seriously. She looked a little out of place among the crowd of ravers, dancers, and tweakers.

Anna studied Church's hands for a brief moment. They didn't look like they belonged to a killer: neatly manicured and delicate, a pianist's dexterity in the flickering movement of her fingers. "They called you a razorgirl, but you don't look modded," Anna said curiously. "Where's your chrome?"

"Just the spur," Church said, turning to face her again. Suddenly they were having an actual conversation. "The rest is bioware. Hardly a secret."

"You're a vatjob?" Anna said, surprised. Every biopunk she'd ever seen had been pretty freaky. Between organic augmentation and body modification, people could look all kinds of ways. Muscle grafts, bone density deposits, troll eyes, symbiotes...it pushed the envelope of the weird and dangerous. A biopunk gillette...no wonder Church was so dangerous.

"You could say that." The killer's eyes were interested now. "You are a brave one."

"I don't think you saved me just to kill me," Anna said.

"Perhaps I could not care less."

Anna studied for her rescuer for a long moment. Church's expression was composed into a sort of serene distance, but her dark eyes were slightly curious. "Suit yourself," Anna said breezily. "I'm sure you make friends left and right with that attitude."

Church did something the dancer hadn't been expecting. She laughed. Anna decided that she liked the sound. It was almost warm. When Church smiled, she almost looked like a completely different woman for a brief moment. "I know your type," Church said, still smiling faintly after her brief laugh. "Trouble."

"Actually, it's Anna," the girl said, holding out her hand to Church. "Nice to meet you."

Church's touch was almost delicate, slightly calloused fingers brushing against her hand before settling into a firm, but not bruising grip. It was much more careful than the arm around her bicep had been. "A pleasure, Anna."

"I haven't seen you around before, but everyone seems to know you," Anna said. She glanced over to where Mikhail poured drinks, further down the bar, before looking back at Church.

Church shrugged. "I've been away," she said. There was a buzz from the commlink sitting on the bar and the last of the smile was suddenly extinguished. "Duty calls."

Anna smiled. "Well, stay safe out there." She would have added chummer or omae, but that seemed a little too familiar for Church.

The killer raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything before answering her comm. "Allo."

Curiosity piqued but well-aware that intruding into Vory business wasn't wise, Anna slipped away, back to work. She was still within sight of the bar when a hand gently closed around her wrist, halting her. Immediately, she felt her whole body tense as she looked at the person holding her. He was clearly a collar, someone who worked for the corps. He was wearing a plain grey suit, a dark tie, and a cream colored oxford. His face was completely unremarkable, as bland as his clothes. Carefully combed dark hair spoke of attention to detail and his light-colored eyesthat reflected back the flashes were keen.

He didn't belong in Ikon.

"Have a seat, please," he said smoothly, letting go of her wrist. "I'm worth your time, I assure you."

Anna didn't like the feeling he gave her. This one was dangerous, maybe even more dangerous than those go-gangers. She was used to trusting her intuition. But how to get away without provoking him? "Alright." She sat down across from him.

His smile was pearly. "What's your name?"

"Anna," she said softly. She wasn't a runner, she didn't need a handle the way people like Church did. "You are?"

"What a pretty name. As for me? You can call me Mr. Johnson," he said, folding his hands on the table in front of him. "I'd like to offer you a job, Anna. You see, I need people like you. People that nobody ever notices."

Anna wasn't certain she liked the sound of that. "I…"

"Don't worry, it won't be difficult. All I want is for you to pay attention to the rumors that circulate around this fine establishment. And it's five hundred nuyen a month," he said calmly. "How much do you make here in a night? Maybe forty?"

"Why me?" Anna asked softly, considering this.

"I know talent when I see it. It's a gift." Mr. Johnson produced a pen and scribbled a comm number on his napkin before sliding it across the table to her. "Don't be a stranger, Anna. If you're going to keep that bliss habit alive, you need the cash."

She almost flinched. She wasn't used to people being able to look at her and just know. It wasn't novacoke or cram, after all. Leto had introduced her to the stuff, a nice way to check out after a rough night...like this one. It had turned into an addiction quickly. And the johnson was right: it did leave her hurting for cash. She wasn't to the point yet where she'd pass on food in order to get it, but she knew that could be in her future. There were ways to make more money working for the Russians, of course, like being a full-time joytoy. She didn't object to the principle, only to the idea of being out of Ikon, in someone's hotel room away from Yuri and the protection of the Vory bruisers. Bad things could still easily happen to a girl like her in Ikon—they almost had—but it was still safer. No SIN meant no cop shits given. They weren't going to hit Redmond with a heatwave over some dead hooker. Girls like her needed gangs and Vory. They were pretty bad, but they were still better than the alternative.

He was smiling at her. "Think about it. If you're in, shoot me a text. If not, well, there are a lot of other girls here who would leap at the chance to make an extra twenty nuyen, let alone five hundred."

Anna nodded, her thoughts churning. "I'm in," she said after a moment, hand tightening on the napkin. "What do you want to know?"

"All the personal information you can find on the movers and shakers at Ikon. Nothing...protected. Just quirks. Vices. Associates. Inquiring minds want to know." He chuckled. "Trust me, my dear, this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship."

The johnson stood up, tipped his head to her in a polite nod, and vanished into the crowd as if he'd never said a word to her.


	2. Just a Milk Run

The Vory v Zakone may have been nasty pieces of work to a one, but they had rules. A code. They were called thieves-in-law sometimes, at least by the girls. Anna wasn't entirely certain on the specifics of the code, mostly because she didn't speak more than a smattering of Russian—though every one of them she'd ever met spoke English, even if most weren't as fluent as Church.

Anna had gotten used to keeping an eye out for Church over the year since they'd met. It was hard to get to know her. Church wore an armor around her heart that could turn the rounds from a Panzer assault cannon. They talked a little bit right before Anna went to work, usually about nothing of substance. Church would stand with her hands in her pockets, ever watching the dark street for any sign of trouble. It made Anna feel oddly safe. Church never said much, usually only asking questions rather than volunteering information, but what she did say made it clear that she'd been listening at least halfway attentively.

She paid Church back just like she paid the johnson: she kept her eyes and ears open. She hadn't told the killer that she was doing it, but if she got wind of something nasty heading Church's way, the elf would hear about it. Plus, she had a few talents of her own.

"Fucking culture vultures," Anna said in a low voice, watching the investigative journalist weasel his way over to Mikhail at the bar.

"He'll be another chalk outline before tomorrow," Leto commented as she put in her earring. "Where's Church? She's usually looming near you this time of night."

"Working. Dunno what she's doing, but her text said it was like kicking dead whales down the beach. Which sounds...gross." Anna saw a familiar face and waved Leto away. "I've got to go see somebody."

"Ooh, got a boyfriend?" Leto craned her neck to see whoever Anna had seen.

Sometimes, it was easier just to lie. "Something like that," Anna said before slipping away from her coworker. Leto was a good friend, but some things needed to be kept quiet. He hadn't visited in a long time, preferring her to make data drops. She wasn't great in the Matrix, as she had a different affinity, but she knew the basics.

He wasn't wearing his suit jacket at the moment and his sleeves were rolled up, making him look a little more like he was here to have fun. "Here I thought I would have to page Dr. Know," he said with a thin smile, catching her by the hand. He knew when he visited to keep up appearances, and so he tugged her over.

Anna took a seat in his lap. "What do you need?" she asked with her best smile even though she wasn't at all excited to see him. Payday good, but trouble bad. She still knew nothing about him, including who he was working for, but his money spent just fine and it was a good deal for just a little information.

At least, when that was all it was. She had a feeling that was not going to be the case tonight.

"I need you to pick something up," he said. "It's here in Redmond, but I can't be seen getting it. I need someone who can be a little less conspicuous than any of my other associates. A briefcase."

Anna frowned. It wasn't her job to fetch things. "Am I going to have to worry about the heat?"

"Are you planning on getting caught?" he countered before smiling. "It's nothing illegal, my dear. Just sensitive. No one else should know about it."

"Is it a hand off or a dead drop?"

"A hand-off, but my associate will be expecting you." She could feel the johnson's hand on her thigh, but didn't flinch. She knew he was just doing it because people might notice if he wasn't handsy enough with her to pass for an admirer. "And just in case you're thinking of turning me down, it is worth some money to me. Three hundred nuyen."

Anna hesitated. To her, that was good money, but well-paid frequently meant dangerous. "Why such a good price?"

"I'm not just buying your assistance, my dear. I'm also purchasing your silence. I'd have you sign an NDA, but that would probably be a waste of time. It should be a trivial task to accomplish. A...milk-run, I think they call it?"

Anna wasn't a proper shadowrunner. She didn't have the kit or the kills to even pass for one. She was just a pretty face and a nice body and a good set of ears. However, she'd been around enough runners to know that any time a Johnson said 'milk run', it was time to ask for more. "Four hundred," she said firmly. "Or you can find another girl."

He chuckled. "I see you're getting brave. I'll be generous, as you have proved reliable in the past. Three fifty."

It was fifty more than she'd thought she'd be getting. "Deal," she said. "When and where?"

"The Squatters' Mall at 0300. I think you should be off work by then. He'll be the one-eyed troll selling knock-off cellphones at the southwest corner of the complex. Wear something red. When he asks you why you're in such a hurry, tell him: ' _I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep',_ " the johnson said, his lips close to her ear when he saw people paying attention to them. His thumb was tracing circles on her thigh still. It probably did look like he'd at least paid her for some attention. "Once you have it and are somewhere you're not likely to be overheard, call me and I'll give you the details on where to bring it."

Anna nodded. It was a simple enough task, even if she had her suspicions that it would be more dangerous than he'd told her. She had her little ace up her sleeve in case the going got rough. She'd been to the Squatters' Mall often throughout her life. It was as familiar as the back of her hand, so she wasn't anxious about being there. "Love you," she said sweetly, kissing his cheek and hopping off his lap. "I'll call."

He nodded, looking faintly amused.

Work flew by, leaving Anna tired and hot at the end of it. She had enough time to take a shower back in the dressing room after slipping past the corner where Leto and her latest admirer were enjoying each other in the hurried, frantic fashion that seemed so common at Ikon. Between drugs and drink and energy, nothing seemed to last long or go slowly. The water sluicing over her body washed away every trace of work and she changed back into her normal clothes, which were a little less revealing than her employer-provided wardrobe. A pair of snug, worn jeans and a tight urban brawl T-shirt that went under a loose Hollywood Simsense Entertainment hoodie. She slipped on her ring again, a carved piece of bone etched with magical runes. There was a little jolt as the counterspelling foci adjusted to the flow of magic through her body.

She wasn't exactly as helpless as she seemed, at least when people weren't close enough to lay hands on her. But she'd kept her magical abilities to herself and thanked her lucky stars that she was an astral chameleon. It made it a lot harder for people to track her from her spells. Anna was well aware that she was a glass cannon, though. She could put out a lot of damage with her rarely-used combat spell, but if somebody got a shot in, she'd be drawing the spade before she could blink.

The dancer wrinkled her nose a little when she felt the first drop of acid rain splash on her face. She pulled her hood up and walked faster, keeping to beneath overhangs and awnings wherever possible as she headed to the Mall.

The Squatters' Mall was basically pandemonium all the time, a living and breathing mass of wretched souls buying and selling anything under the sun or moon that could be sold or bought. Countless voices hawked wares in virtually every language, a true tribute to the cosmopolitan nature of even the ghettos. Gang members strutted through the narrow lanes between vendors, chests puffed out as they surveyed their domain and glared at their rivals, but it was a neutral zone and so everyone at least pretended to tolerate each other. Every metatype was represented in some way or another here, from orks and trolls to dwarves and elves...though they didn't mix well. It had that special smell of unwashed bodies and trash, but that faded after a few minutes. Dull, fluorescent lights flickered and buzzed as they cast a sickly light down on the teeming crowds that flowed through the old, run-down mall. Anna was easily lost in the anonymous mass, her hood keeping people from even seeing her as a pretty face. Rain was dripping in through the untended cracks in the ceiling, so it wasn't too strange to see someone still covered up. Even though the building had no heat, the crowd generated plenty, so it was stiflingly hot in here too. Anna kept herself focused, weaving her way through the area as she headed for the southwest corner.

It took her a good half hour to find him even once she made it to that area, which was impressive considering he was eight and a half feet tall and had to weigh around 600 pounds. His skin looked calcified from his dermal bone deposits and his horns were asymmetric in their size and shape. The corners of his mouth were marked with jutting tusks, but for his heavy brow and brutish features, there was a definite gleam of intelligence to his dark eye. The other was an empty socket, as apparently he was too poor for cybernetics. "Hey, want to buy something?" he asked.

"No," Anna said with a shake of her head, but she lingered at the edge of his stall, fidgeting. It looked like impatience, but it was really just nerves. Her anxiety had amped up the moment she'd seen him.

"Oh yeah? Why are you in such a rush?"

She took a deep breath. "I've got promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep,"

He nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I'm sure they can wait for a sec." He waved her into the back of his little booth. "Tachi, watch the front."

The Japanese dwarf bent over a disassembled cyberdeck stopped his fiddling with the interior circuitry and hopped up from his workstation. "Got it, boss!" He looked young and enthusiastic, in an unusually cheerful way. It made Anna want to like him a little bit, even if it did also make her suspicious.

Anna followed him into the hidden back, her hands fisted tight in the pocket of her sweatshirt. "Is this it?" she asked when she saw a locked briefcase tucked away behind a shelf of junk parts.

"Yeah, chummer, so don't drop it." The troll picked it up and passed it to her. "Oh, and one more thing. Y—"

The front of the shop exploded, sending Anna and the troll flying into the shelves _hard._ Anna gasped and put a hand over her freshly broken ribs, picking herself up off the floor. She grabbed the briefcase, scorched and catching a familiar whiff in the air along with smoke: mana. The imprint the spell had left blazed brightly in her astral perception. There was a powerful mage in the area, and she wasn't going to take the time to stop and look for them. It was a power she didn't want to tangle with. However, her only way out was through the smoldering wreckage. The screams were everywhere, people burned viciously by the fire. Whoever had cast that spell cared absolutely nothing for bystanders or the retribution of the gangs who had made this a neutral territory.

That frightened Anna, and so she bolted. She wanted to help people, but she could barely convince herself to stay conscious and moving with the agony in her ribs. The moment she sensed more than heard someone casting a spell, she threw herself to the ground and screamed when she hit her ribs against someone's shoe. A blast of lightning exploded overhead, hitting a power panel and plunging the world into darkness. Anna squirmed away, blinded by the flash and unable to smell anything other than ozone, mana, and burning flesh.

"Frag frag frag frag—" she whispered as she crawled, cut off by a foot coming down hard on her back. It _hurt._

She found herself rolled over, facing up at a figure she could barely see through the after-flash. They were lit by a strange, conjured green fire in their left hand. It flared brightly and she realized it was an offensive fire spell about to burn her to a crisp. Different syllables came to her lips immediately, and she whispered them under her breath as she wove patterns against the floor with the fingers that weren't clutching the briefcase's handle. If it was do or die, she had every intention of _doing_ and not dying.

Just as the mage fed power into the spell, ready to set it loose, the emerald flame was snuffed out. Her counterspell had gone off without a hitch. Without hesitating, she hit them in the face with a manabolt. She couldn't see, but the shout of pain let her know that they didn't appreciate her contribution to the conversation.

Anna got to her feet and went careening through the chaos that was the crowd. By some miracle, she managed to fight her way out. Instead of stopping once she was free, she kept running with the briefcase in hand. As her vision returned, she ran for the only place she felt safe: Ikon. Whatever the consequences were, she was confident that the Russians weren't going to let someone walk in and frag up their place. She waited until she had a few blocks behind her before she wove a healing spell over her own ribs, golden light and warmth suffusing her side. There were a series of painful cracks as her ribs snapped themselves back into place and knit together. She didn't maintain the effect long enough to heal the bruising too, as she was afraid of the mage catching her.

A Lonestar drone flew overhead, headed straight for the chaos. She hoped the sight of it would slow her pursuers as she wove through gang territories. It was a dangerous game she was playing now.

It wasn't until she stopped for breath, ribs still aching as she panted for air, that she realized she had veered off course in her panic. She was in Halloweener territory now. Unfortunately, she didn't have the face paint for it. That flaming jack-o-lantern spray-painted on the front face of a run down bar was a clear indication that she had made a wrong turn.

"Hey baby," someone said from behind her.

Anna whipped around and immediately let another manabolt flare to life, a glowing sphere of pale blue resting in the palm of her hand. "Buzz off," she said, voice hard.

There were five of them. That was four more than she was prepared to deal with. They were all wearing thick greasepaint on their faces in grotesque, Halloween-themed patterns: skulls and Frankensteins and ghosts.

They hesitated. One frightened girl was one thing, but a frightened mage could be really unpleasant for anyone on the receiving end. "Come on, baby, put that mana out," one said, approaching very slowly, as if he could creep up on her without her realizing how close he was getting.

"I think you should find another alleyway," an accented, female voice said from behind Anna. "This one is ours."

Anna didn't quite relax, but she felt a surge of relief. She let the spell in her hand flare brighter as she fed more power into it, bumping its force up a couple of levels. It was enough to make the Halloweeners back off. They would circle like jackals, waiting for their moment, but they weren't going to instigate anything just yet. "You've got a hell of a sense of timing, omae," Anna said once the gangers had left the alley, turning to look at Church.

The Vory killer raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

Church's lip curled. "Working," she said, sounding thoroughly disgusted with the task that had brought her to the area. "Now you."

Anna cracked a tense smile. "Working. I need to get to Ikon."

"I'll take you," Church said, adjusting her jacket. For once, she wasn't in business attire. She was wearing kevlar-reinforced jeans and tactical boots, with a black armored jacket over a white T-shirt. She was holding a black ballistic mask in one hand and Anna was pretty certain she'd just tucked away a pistol. She looked like the kind of person who would gleefully put her fist through the back of someone's skull via their face, which from what Anna knew, was pretty representative of Church's personality. She was a people person in the same way urban brawl was socialization.

"Do you have a car?" Anna asked, following close on Church's heels. She wasn't stupid and she certainly wasn't going to turn down any Vory help she was fortunate enough to get.

"A bike. Draws less attention," Church explained briefly as they walked. She seemed to be restraining her own curiosity when she looked at over at the briefcase in Anna's hand. "Russian work?"

"I didn't ask," Anna admitted. She was beginning to reconsider her blind willingness to see this through just for corporate chump change. If a mage like that was trying to kill her...well, it was worth a hell of a lot more than a few hundred nuyen. As she followed Church, she scanned the area astrally. There was no sign of anything Awakened in the area. A watcher spirit a few blocks down, probably sent by some jealous boyfriend or girlfriend with a knack for magic to keep an eye on their potentially cheating partner.

Church raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask. She wove her way through the alleys and back avenues, avoiding the main streets through this area until they reached her motorcycle. It wasn't too hard, with how run down this part of Redmond was. Not that any part of Redmond was particularly stunning, except maybe the areas where people were struck bodily by muggers. "Take my helmet," she said instead of pressing for more information, handing the aforementioned piece of equipment over. "My mask can keep the wind out of my face."

The thoughtfulness surprised Anna. She set the briefcase down just long enough to put the helmet on.

"Is it fragile?" Church asked, motioning to the briefcase.

"They warned me not to drop it." Anna picked it up, watching as Church undid a strap on her motorcycle's rear. It looked perfect for lashing a briefcase to the bike. "Thanks, Church. I appreciate this." She wasn't certain why her gut didn't mind the Vory killer, but she hadn't lived this long by ignoring her instincts.

Church shrugged expressively and cinched the briefcase into place before getting on the bike. She waited until Anna was on behind her to start it up, knowing that the dancer would be inclined to do something rash if it looked like she might try to take the briefcase and run. Now the Vory knew she was a mage, but she was hoping beyond hope that Church kept that little tidbit to herself. She didn't want to find herself pushed into anything else in her nocturnal job. Illusion mages like herself could find themselves in high demand to fill all kinds of fantasies for people. Being good looking wasn't going to dissuade anyone from wanting to use her magic that way. The opposite, if anything. And considering her magic was the one untainted part of her life so far...well, she wanted to keep it that way.

When they reached Ikon, she told herself, she would start looking into what the hell was going on. These people didn't seem like the types to let a little thing like her not having the package any more stop them from doing unspeakably cruel things to her. She didn't live at Ikon, after all. She would have to leave Vory protection at some point.

 _What I wouldn't give for a shot of bliss and a few quiet drinks,_ Anna thought.


	3. A Good Pair

Anna stared at the briefcase sitting in her lap. It felt like the briefcase was staring back. _What could be in this that's worth killing so publicly and indiscriminately for?_ she asked herself. Her gut was telling her to get rid of the briefcase as quickly as possible. Why open it? It would just be dangerous, because it would mean knowing. Maybe knowledge was power, but that was a two edged sword and she didn't fancy the idea of being skewered with it. And yet, here she was, sitting with it balanced on her knees, unable to take her eyes off it. She'd already looked at it astrally and found it had a nice ward surrounding the contents. The johnson hadn't known she was a mage, at least to her knowledge. If he was really ignorant of that fact, he had no reason to assume she would be aware of the wards or know that odds were, whatever was in the briefcase was magical in nature.

Mr. Johnson had friends in high places if he was a corp's and not some private citizen's. That wasn't the kind of collar she fragging wanted to piss off. So why was her thumb settling on the tabs to pop the latch? It would be so easy—

"I didn't know you were a mage."

Anna just about jumped out of her skin. "Church!" It was worse because she was still wired from earlier even though they were back at Ikon and relatively safe. The elf had stashed her in the empty dancer's quarters and vanished for a good ten minutes, probably letting Ikon's security know that someone might turn up with a fight in mind. The club was closed for the day, but the Russians still carried on business upstairs as maintenance cleaned the place and got it stocked for the next night. Now the elf was apparently back.

The thief-in-law looked amused rather than apologetic, though she did settle back into seriousness in a second or two. "Does anyone else know?"

"No," she said as her nerves started to slowly settle again. Anna had a hell of a time calming herself down these days without bliss, but it was a little easier knowing that Church had her back. She could feel the craving starting, an ache in her chest as she wished desperately that she could go to that great, floating, safe space where she felt warm and happy rather than terrified and more than a little angry with Mr. Johnson. "Would you have fragging told anyone if you were in my shoes?"

Church considered the question for a moment. "I don't know."

Anna sighed heavily. "I need to call Mr. Johnson."

One of Church's eyebrows arched, unspoken questions burning in those coal-like eyes. Even though she clearly wanted to ask, however, she refrained. Instead, she sat down at the desk in front of the mirror beside Anna, half facing the door. It was a tactical position. She could easily launch herself to seek cover between two escape routes, but she had table space to unload and clean her pistol. Apparently she'd taken the time while she was out to grab a tool to disassemble it, some oil, and a rag. Her movements were quick, but methodical. Anna was impressed by the precision and care the killer worked with more than the speed. The room was quiet for a long time, what felt like an eternity to Anna.

Anna was always grateful for the thief-in-law's restraint. Where Leto and the other girls wanted to know every little thing about her, Church gave her space to decide what she wanted to tell. She took a deep breath, but she knew she had the elf's attention. "This guy asked me just a little while after I started here to keep an ear out, listen to rumors. Called himself Mr. Johnson. I know the type. Probably plumbing for information to feed to his runners. But he asked me last night to pick up a package for him. It...didn't go well." She drummed her fingers on the briefcase. "I don't know what it is. I didn't ask. But somebody wants it _bad_. Some fragging hitmage came out of nowhere." She sat, waiting for Church to tell her she was an idiot for taking work from a Johnson without being a proper runner.

"Are you alright?" Church didn't look up from what she was doing as she asked, carefully checking each piece before she started to reassemble her gun. She hadn't broken it down completely the way she might have if she was safely ensconced in her office upstairs, where she wasn't expecting trouble, but it was still a thorough wipe-down.

Anna was reasonably certain that she was the only person Church ever asked that. The elf's question threw her for a loop for a second even though she'd heard it before from the Vory killer. "It's just a few bruises and some scorching. I'll be fine. How are you?"

Church shrugged in a noncommittal fashion. She checked her weapon and dry-fired it once just to make certain it was in working order before she loaded it again and returned it to the concealed quickdraw holster under her jacket. Anna had learned that while Church could and would shoot someone from a good distance, she excelled when things were up close and personal. Yuri had mentioned seeing her part some guys out before, and from his description, she hadn't waited until the chrome-dome or his buddies were dead.

Anna could see stiffness in the way she moved one shoulder that suggested something was wrong. She hadn't realized it on the ride, but then again, Church had probably started to stiffen up once they were back and danger was a little further away. "Let me look at it?"

"It's fine," Church said dismissively. "Just a bruise or two."

The dancer frowned deeply. "A bruise or two shouldn't be impacting your mobility. Let me look." Church glared at her like an ill-tempered cobra, but Anna refused to budge on this one. She owed Church. She owed the elf _a lot_ , even if the killer wasn't keeping score. Where others would have started to back away slowly, Anna got up and locked the door before setting the briefcase down on the table where the gun had been, so it was in plain view of both of them. "I'm not going to stab you in the back or anything. Come on, Church, you know me."

"Do I?" Church said. It sounded more suspicious than hostile, which was a step in the right direction as far as Anna was concerned. "I didn't know you were a mage."

"And now you do. See, you know me better already. And it's not like you couldn't kill me if you wanted to. Mages break like twigs." Anna let her hands brush across Church's shoulder, feeling to make certain there wasn't an obvious break or something out of place. To her surprise, the assassin didn't immediately flinch away.

Church stiffened slightly when Anna's fingertips brushed over the point of her shoulder and down to her upper arm, but that was all. The area felt hot to the touch and painfully swollen when Anna felt a little more firmly, expecting to hear a sound of pain. She didn't get one. "There," the Russian said instead of whining or giving any sign of discomfort. She sounded resigned, as if reluctantly acknowledging that Anna should be allowed to poke and prod her.

"Let me see if it's dislocated or broken before I start this healing spell. Can I pull up your sleeve?" the mage asked, sounding a good deal more professional than she probably was. After all, she'd never drawn a salary for healing. She had just taken care of a lot of injured people before. She could see hints of bruising down the elf's arm once she looked at that tricep, dark color bleeding out from beneath the sleeve. She waited for the killer's tiny nod to pull up the white fabric to reveal Church's shoulder. It looked like a mess, dark purple bruising surrounding the outside of the joint. It looked like an impact to Anna, like Church had been thrown or had thrown herself. No abrasions, but if the Russian had been wearing that armored jacket when she got it, that would have protected her. Hell, if this was what her shoulder looked like with armor, Anna wasn't certain that she'd have had a joint without it. "Yeah, that looks pretty fragging bad."

Church shrugged slightly, disturbing the jarred joint without seeming terribly troubled by it. Anna didn't waste any time, immediately weaving a spell. It was powerful enough that she felt a definite twinge of drain, but she'd handled it well enough that it didn't suck nearly as much as a bigger spell. The bruising slowly faded away, golden light glowing between the hand hovering over Church's shoulder and the elf's discolored skin. It took only a few moments before the healing was done. " _Spasibo,_ " the Russian murmured.

Anna knew enough Russian to understand that meant 'thank you', not that understanding the language was required to get the gist. "You're welcome," she said, returning to her seat and picking up the briefcase.

"Call your Mr. Johnson," Church said firmly. "I will go with you."

Anna shook her head. "It's just a drop."

The Russian grabbed her armored jacket from where she'd draped it over an empty chair and motioned for Anna to come with her. "If this is how your pick-up went, I cannot imagine that your drop will go smoothly. Make him come get it, tell him they know you have it. It is the truth." Her dark eyes looked as yielding as basalt. "Call him."

"What if he tries to clean house?" Anna asked.

"Then I will kill him and his team," Chuch said simply, pulling on her jacket.

"Church, I hate to tell you this, but you _can_ die. I already owe you way too much."

"You healed me." The accented words were pointed.

This time, Anna shook her head emphatically. "You saved me. More than once. I can't ask you to do this."

The thief-in-law did not look amused. "You are _not_ asking. _I_ am telling."

Anna met her glare head on, but she couldn't hold it. "Thank you," she said softly as she pulled out her comm. "No one ever does drek for me. Not like this." Without waiting for a response or looking at Church's face, she tapped on the screen to dial Mr. Johnson. Normally, he kept her waiting for at least three rings. This time, he picked up on the first.

His voice was as smooth as ever. " _Anna, lovely to hear from you. Do you have my package?_ "

"Yeah," she said as she adjusted her earpiece. "Taken a look at the news lately? Somebody fragging knows I have it. Where the hell are you?"

" _I'll give you the meet to drop it off and you can be rid of it immediately._ "

"And how am I supposed to know they're the right person? The last person you sent me to almost got me blown to bits, so you can bet your ass they know exactly who you're sending. I want to go somewhere safe and I want to meet with you personally."

" _You're not really in a position to argue, my dear_."

"Yeah?" Anna felt the anger come back with a vengeance. "I've got your fragging briefcase. If you don't want it enough to show up yourself, I bet I could find someone else who'd be happy to take it off my hands."

She could hear unease in his voice when he replied. " _Anna, be reasonable. You're SINless in possession of corporate property. I could call and have you arrested._ "

"And then you can have fun retrieving it from the evidence vault. I'm sure they'd love to poke around your completely legal package. Turns out fire burns both ways."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line, no doubt a sign that he was trying to twist the situation to his advantage. " _Very well, my dear. You have my briefcase, I have your nuyen. Kubota Garden, midnight tonight, Heart Bridge. Come alone."_

"Fine by me," Anna said. He hung up on her, but she didn't really care. She was very much over talking to him. What the hell was she going to do without that five hundred nuyen a month? She was sure he was going to find someone else after putting the screws to him like that. Granted, that was provided Church let him live. She had a distinct feeling that the Vory killer had less than kind intentions in her heart. She looked at the Russian. "He wants me to come alone."

"How unfortunate for him," the elf said dryly. "I can move quietly."

Anna didn't doubt that. Church seemed more comfortable in the shadows of the night than under the day. "Can I go home and change?" the dancer asked. Her eyes ached with exhaustion. Normally, she would have been in bed asleep by this hour. There wasn't going to be a chance of that with this cloud hanging over her head, which was not the greatest thing in the world considering she was supposed to work come evening.

"It will not be safe if they know you." Those dark eyes were inscrutable. "We should not test that."

"Where am I going to fragging sleep?" Anna said, dismayed. If she wasn't going to be able to go back to her apartment, that meant she could kiss her stuff goodbye. The little life she'd assembled for herself had just been shattered in a few hours. "And my things…"

Church frowned.

"I need a place to stay, Church. I can't just...I don't know." Anna felt the tears suddenly springing to life. She put her hand up to her eyes to try and stem the flow, but they poured down anyway. "Fragging milk run, he said. Now look at me? This is _my life,_ Church. Or it used to be. What am I going to do? Where can I go?" She sank down to the floor. She was exhausted and frightened now that her anger had been vented in part.

"I have a safehouse in mind," Church said. "You will be safe there until I can come back for you tonight."

Anna hated the idea of being alone right now, but she nodded despite the tears rolling down her cheeks. She managed to get her breathing under control before she choked or completely broke down into sobs. "Okay." She knew how to get her shit together. It was just six times harder when she was tired like this and starting to feel withdrawals on the horizon. She had a dose on her, a little autoinjector of bliss that Leto had given her a while back. It would keep the cravings off, but not forever.

For all her flaws, the Russian seemed to read right through the dancer's strong front. "Let me make a phone call," Church said. Without waiting for an answer, she pulled out her comm. She waited for a few moments and then...Anna watched a sudden transformation, like night suddenly becoming day, when Church heard whoever was on the other end of that line. She switched languages seamlessly, speaking in Russian. Her voice was soft and warm, unnaturally gentle for a weapon like Church. She was smiling suddenly, the soft special smile of a woman talking to the center of her world. Anna found herself looking at someone she could barely recognize, and it was honestly almost terrifying to see.

Church got off the phone after just a minute or two, her smile lingering for a moment after she shut off the comm. Then, like a light being snuffed out, it was gone. Dark eyes flickered back to Anna. "I'll stay with you until the briefcase is passed off. We should get you to bed. I will need sleep too."

"Who was that?" Anna asked.

The Russian's glare was a dark one. "That is not yours to know."

Anna knew when she was pushing at one of Church's boundaries—this one seemed ironclad. "Got it. Sorry."

Instead of smoldering about it too much, the elf shrugged. "We all have our secrets."

It made Anna wonder who exactly Church was protecting. She padded after the killer, wiping away her tears and taking a deep breath. It was time to focus on her own problem. Once this disaster was averted, there would be plenty of time to go back to puzzling away at Church.

Some part of Anna was certain that there would be no easy answer to her situation, however.


	4. All About the Blood

Anna gripped the briefcase a little more tightly as she walked down the dark path alone towards the Heart Bridge. The Kubota Gardens were some of Seattle's rare green spaces, maintained by Shiawase on behalf of the corporate executives who had a soft spot for the Japanese-style gardens. She knew shamans who spent some time in the area, soaking in the rare feeling of nature and tranquility in the busy, grimy world that they lived in. She preferred hunching over her books in her piece of drek apartment, listening to the creak of her cheap chair and plywood desk as she shifted and the rain drumming on her cracked window. It was tenement housing, honestly little better than squatting in an empty building, but she had enough flickering power to run a light and a trid player, which was all she really needed aside from her books. It was only two rooms, a cramped bathroom and a bedroom that doubled as her lodge, but she missed it intensely now that she knew she wouldn't be going back to it for a while, if ever.

Church's safe-house had been a little house tucked away in Renton near the edge of the barrens, surrounded by gang signs and broken windows, but relatively undamaged itself. No one seemed to pay it much mind, probably because the locals knew that the Vory made use of it now and again. There weren't qutie enough gunshots or breaking windows or shouts for her to feel comfortable, but Church's presence and a shot of bliss, which she'd snuck while the Russian was out of the room, made it possible to actually sleep. She was feeling better now, but nervous. There was no sign of Church anywhere and Anna had to hope that the Russian was nearby without any trouble.

She'd thought about summoning a spirit as back up, but she wasn't very good at it still.

There was no sign of Mr. Johnson anywhere, at least until she tripped. There was a splash when she landed painfully on the briefcase and a low, guttural moan. Her hands had struck the puddle, splashing dark liquid on her arms. Her only light was the silver glow of the moon when it peeked out from behind the clouds that crowded it out. It was enough illumination to realize that she'd just stumbled over a body.

His light colored eyes were glazed, staring at her but seeing nothing. His tie was askew, revealing a deep wound to the center of his chest. She could see past his cracked sternum to the ragged hole where his heart should have been. There was a faint glimmer of magic, a health spirit lingering in the area. It was weak and tired, barely holding him to unnatural life. Mr. Johnson was a dead man, and she wasn't going to be able to heal that.

The blood all over her hands and legs was still warm. His killer had to be in the area, and the lack of Church suggested that it wasn't the Russian's doing. Anna could feel panic starting in her chest.

"Church, he's dead," she whispered softly, knowing that the mic she was wearing would still pick it up. "We need to go."

She heard a laugh, sudden and clear. It sounded like a woman's, but there was also a dry, almost synthetic chuckle from another person behind her. A hand grabbed her by the hair and wrenched her upward, earning a yelp from Anna as she scrambled to her feet to avoid having it ripped out by the handful. She glanced at them through astral eyes, only to see a powerful mage ahead and a black essence hole behind her. He had to be a cyberpsycho with that much augmentation, but there was still magic flowing through his body.

Not the good kind.

"So Tlaloc was right," the woman in front of her said with a grin as the cyberpsycho grabbed Anna by her arms and held her firmly in place. "Our runner is a mage. You might even be powerful, if you were trained." She stepped out into the light. A pretty face, but not one that would stand out in a crowd. She had fair hair like Anna's own and tan skin like she spent a lot of time out in the sun, not a popular look in Seattle with the frequent acid rain. "I'd like my briefcase, runner. But first, let's hear your name."

Anna shook her head. Names had power, as any spirit would be quick to say.

" _Tell me_."

The compulsion was a writhing, red-hot _need_ in the pit of her stomach. She could feel the words trying to claw their way up and out of her throat, but she bit down on her lip until it bled to keep herself from saying anything. The mage stepped forward.

"I admire your resolve, runner. Most can't resist me." She reached out with a finger, gently catching the drop of blood as it rolled down Anna's chin. "Don't worry, this will do."

Anna felt the dread hit like a runaway train and fear rose swiftly from the wreckage. A cold sweat was starting across her body as she watched the female mage study the little droplet of blood on her fingertip. "Who are you?" she managed to whisper through the copper taste and the knot in her throat.

The woman looked at her with a wicked smile and eyes alight with a feverish, unnaturally hungry glow before licking the blood off her finger. "Give me the briefcase, Anna."

A suppressed gunshot rang out and Anna heard a crack before something wet hit her shoulder: blood and a chunk of flesh from the cyberpsycho's face. Instead of a frozen silence, he let out an animalistic, feline growl and dropped Anna.

She shot forward, booking it towards the darkness on the other end of the bridge. It was a guess, but she knew the Russian had to be somewhere across the water. Anna felt a powerful spell flare to life and heard chanting, the kind of unforgiving thing that would sear the flesh off her bones. _Briefcase is warded,_ she thought, her body already moving. She whipped around and threw up the briefcase between her and the wicked lightning bolt struck it instead of her. There was an explosion that flung her back off her feet

The air reeked of mana, overpowering even the smell of ozone. Anna could feel it crackling across her skin, wreathing her in a strange orange glow as something attuned to the flow of energy through her own body. She could see the spirit bending down towards her, so powerful that it blotted out everything else in her astral perception as well as her normal vision. It looked like a beautiful woman with red and black hair, golden eyes like a predatory bird's, taloned feet, and an owl's wings in place of arms. The face was perfect to the point of ethereality, shining like the moon and very much otherworldly. Anna suddenly felt herself pulled outside of time, outside of her body. For a moment, it was her looking down at her own scorched, damaged body as if she _was_ the spirit. Then the world blurred and she felt a horrific agony explode through her being as the spirit connected with her. It was too much energy, like grabbing on to a powerline. Her bloody, scorched body started to writhe and choke on the ground in the throes of spirit possession.

"We have to go!" someone was shouting as they scooped her struggling body up.

She heard a scream of rage from the direction of the mage and the cyberpsycho. For a moment, she could see through the pain. The mage was there, right hand flaring with crackling purple energy, and so was a hulking beast of a man with strange, stylized tattoos of a big cat's face over his own.

Church raced away, carrying Anna. She wasn't stupid enough to try to fight that behemoth and a mage, not if it was possible to get away. Meanwhile, the dancer forced herself to grit her teeth against the pain, trying not to scream. Eventually, it reduced to just twitching, muscles slowly relaxing and unclenching themselves. Her blood burned with agonizing heat in her veins, but she didn't feel some external effect. Whatever it was, it was inside of her now. Her skin looked bone white against the bloodstain and the dark of Church's clothes. Hot tears dripped down her cheeks, mingling with the blood from her lip.

Her Russian rescuer slid out of the way down an embankment and bolted towards her motorcycle. "Anna, I need a ward," Church's voice said, cutting through the haze of pain. "They will just blow us apart."

The mage nodded through the blur, conjuring up a ward more powerful than she had intended. The chant tripped off her bloodied lips, fingers weaving a pattern on Church's shoulder. Glowing orange energy covered their backs, rippling when a bolt of lightning struck it but sustaining itself. The hulking figure was closing on them quickly, however, and Anna doubted she would be able to sustain it against that kind of joint assault. "Church, I can't—"

Church pushed her onto the motorcycle, this time in front so she could hold Anna onto the bike. She gunned the engine to life and took off, grateful that it was one of the Japanese racing bikes usually preferred by the Ancients and other speed demons. "Hold it as long as you can." The Russian's voice was tight and clipped from concentration or maybe stress. She was trying to weave in evasive patterns, but that was easier said than done. Once they were in Seattle traffic and not a side road and parking lots, it would be trivial to lose a tail.

Anna gasped as she felt something shift inside her, like something astral settling in and making itself comfortable within her own essence. She held tighter to Church, fingers fisting in the material of the elf's jacket.

They didn't stop until they'd woven through about six different gang territories back in Redmond, hoping to slow pursuit with gangers who would take exception to a pair like that. Granted, they were big enough fish that they might spook even the neighborhood baddies off. Church knew what she was doing as far as losing a tail. She pulled into the garage outside a run-down tenement. Not Anna's place, but definitely an equally cramped, dirty hole in the wall. There were people in the hallway trying to sleep under newspapers, some of them chipheads who were still jacked in or tweakers high on their particular poison. No one looked too hard at Church carrying a barely-conscious Anna through the halls, particularly not since she was heading towards Doc Carver's place.

A sign on the door she stopped in front of was plain wood with flaking white paint announcing "Clinik Hear" and a badly drawn red snake wrapping around a vertical line with cartoon wings on either side. Church knocked and then pushed the door open without waiting for a response, carefully maneuvering the mage through the door so she wouldn't hit her head on the frame. "Anna," Church said urgently. "Talk to me."

"It's inside," Anna said through the agony. Power crackled through her body, scorching Church's armor to the point where small curls of smoke rose from the Russian's sleeves and chest. It was orange, the same shade as most flame. Anna wasn't certain what was going on. Her plain mana had always been a brilliant blue. She was slowly becoming aware enough to realize that something really wasn't right, mostly because the pain was slowly ebbing down to a manageable level. "I'm okay."

"You don't look okay," Church said, setting her down on a table that was covered with a clean white sheet. "You almost match the sheet." She turned around when she heard feet approaching. "Allo, Doc."

"Damn it, Church, it's late," an elderly dwarf groused as he stomped into the room. He stopped when he saw Anna. "Well, she looks terrible."

"I was hoping you could help."

The dwarf paused and considered his prospective patient, glowing blue cyber eyes zooming in. "Well, judging by all the magic, looks like it might be beyond me." He walked more quietly over to Anna's side, pulling on nitrile gloves before starting to poke and prod. He turned over and arm and pulled up her sleeve. "Well, a bliss addict. That might be our solution to this little problem. I'll give her a good dose and we can see what that does. Was it a mage that did this?"

Anna shook her head. "Spirit." She went to sit up with a grimace and found herself pinned to the table by Church. "I'm okay."

"I disagree." Church's tone was particularly forbidding at the moment. "What kind of spirit?"

"Nothing like anything I've seen." Anna could feel exhaustion creeping in along with the strange, burning energy. It was a strange feeling to be so wired and so tired at the same time. "Old and powerful."

"Well, shall we see if this helps?" Doc was pulling out a syringe as he spoke and drawing a dose of bliss out of a plastic test tube. Without really waiting for an answer, he was feeling for a vein and then worked his way between needle marks to deliver a shot of the drug.

Anna wasn't a combative patient, not when he was promising to give her a badly needed fix. She just wanted to check out for a little while at this point. The familiar burning sensation in her veins quickly faded to be replaced by a definite sense of relief. Quickly, she was floating again, surrounded by warm and placid clouds. She was still superficially aware of what was going on, but she barely had the interest to process it. She knew her whole body had relaxed and her face had arranged itself into that sleepy smile that marked bliss addicts. "Better," she sighed.

"So, my dear, is it a good spirit?" Doc was probing for more information, no doubt hoping to narrow down his diagnosis.

"It inflicted a lot of pain." Anna's response was a murmur, barely audible. "If it were still around, I could ask it."

The dwarf checked her pulse and then her pupils. "Not as relaxed as I'd expected," he said. "The euphoria is there, but the other effects seem...dampened. Now, I'm not a magical expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I saw things like this in Chicago with the Universal Brotherhood. I do believe our young friend is no longer the loneliest number in that body of hers."

Anna sensed more than saw Church's frown through the fog. "What do we do? Is there a way to get rid of it?" The Russian sounded frustrated.

"That entirely depends upon its power, from what I understand. We're going to need a shaman to take a look at her and figure out what this spirit is and what it wants."

"She has my blood," Anna said, the non sequitur breaking through the conversation. "I bet to track me."

Doc Carver looked distinctly worried at that comment. "That is _not_ standard magic. Even I know that. Church, what have you gotten yourself into?"

Church didn't answer, which was a good indicator that she didn't particularly care. "Will she take long to recover?"

The dwarf street doc shrugged expressively. "You're carrying her, Church. Let me put on shoes and grab my bag."

"You're coming?" The Russian raised an eyebrow slightly. "You don't normally stick your neck out, Doc."

"Yeah, well, I like it when you owe me favors. I've got some neighborhood problems I could use your special skills in handling," he said with a toothy grin as he sat down and pulled on steel-toed boots. The dwarf knew how much getting hit in the foot hurt. He grabbed his bag. "I know a rat shaman just down the street. And by down, I mean in the storm drains."

Church nodded before scooping up Anna, probably grateful that it wasn't in the sewers. She might have been able to walk before that shot of bliss, but the doc had given her a serious dose of the stuff. She was pretty checked out. "Is he going to be able to get a read on her like this?"

"Well, we'll find out. Now move it."

Anna let her head loll against Church's shoulder, too relaxed to even really grab ahold of the killer's jacket. She felt like she was wrapped in a warm blanket and everything was going to be perfectly fine. Coming down would be a rude welcome back to a cold, grey world, but Anna was used to the grim awakening. She'd been hooked on the stuff for more than a year now, courtesy of Leto and a drug dealer named Max. The little arcs of power were coming more and more infrequently as the spirit adjusted to her body, blending its essence and power with her own.

Getting down into the storm drains was a challenge with a barely-conscious young woman. Church had to pry up the grate, then drop down and have Doc pass her Anna. After a few minutes, though, they were well below street level and in safety. Rat shamans could be very territorial, even if many of the goblinoid ones had associations with the Ork Underground. "So you said you knew this shaman?" Church asked as they passed by a painted image of a rat totem and into the depths of the section that had been hollowed out by water and careful construction work by the shamans themselves, aided by earth spirits.

"Patched him up a couple times," Doc said with a shrug. "Like most of the 'hood, really. Gang scraps and such. There have been a few scuffles between the Ancients and the Underground in the area. He got caught in the crossfire, by which I mean he geeked an Ancient mage and got shot for his trouble. Almost drew the spade himself. His name's Monterey Jack."

Anna giggled. "Like the cheese?" she slurred.

Doc gave her a warning look. "I wouldn't say that in front of him. Got a little bit of a temper, which ain't all that attractive on a troll."

"Got it," Church said as they wove through the subterranean network of drains and tunnels. The ground was slick and wet, reeking of mildew and molds. It wasn't raining at the moment, but there was still about an inch of water in the system. There were rats everywhere too, scurrying from dry spot to dry spot or grooming themselves. None of the three paid them much mind. For one, Anna and Doc were used to them getting into their respective apartments and two, all of them knew that hurting a rat would _not_ endear them to Monterey Jack or any other rat shaman in the area.

They sloshed probably a couple city blocks before Doc held up a hand. They were outside of a ramshackle shelter built against the wall out of plywood, two-by-fours, and a lot of optimism. It was painted with magical symbols and images of rats. Two devil rats were playing tug of war with what looked suspiciously like a human or metahuman rib bone. They were hairless, pale, wrinkled rats with spines and sharp teeth, each rodent nearly a meter long. Doc made a shooing motion at them. Both hissed, showing off their yellowed incisors, before darting away into the darkness. Church could barely see even with elven eyes, mostly through the light coming through storm drains. Anna was completely in the dark. Doc could see fine, of course.

"Come in," a deep voice boomed from inside the construction. No doubt their warm bodies stood out starkly from the cold background, easily visible to troll eyes.

"Heya, Jack," Doc said as he stepped in, shaking his head and wiping at his beard to get rid of some of the water that he'd accumulated on his journey. They'd stopped briefly on the way so Church could bundle Anna in her coat. Bliss tended to slow the metabolism of the body a little, which included heat production. It meant that Church looked like a failed drowning victim, but Anna was warm enough to survive. Her hoodie hadn't been able to withstand this much water, even treated as it was with water repellent. "This is Church. That's Anna."

There was a sharp inhale from the eight-foot-tall figure who crouched in the structure in front of a small radiant heater. He was smelling his guests. "Your friend is very...sick," he said, gesturing at Anna. "And most certainly Awakened. She shines like a beacon of power. No mage within a few city blocks could miss her."

"Not good," Church muttered as she gently set Anna down on the floor. It was mostly dry, only a few leaks coming in. She managed to avoid positioning the dancer in one. "Doc thinks she's possessed."

"I have not felt anything like such a thing," Monterey Jack said. He was visible only as shadows and a few striking features in the glow of the radiant heater. He was a sturdy troll, two horns curving back from his forehead like a ram's. He was covered in shamanic symbols painted in a red ochre color across his greenish-grey skin. Bone fetishes covered his body, rattling with every movement. He had a twisted staff resting against his shoulder that emanated a small amount of magical power that Anna could detect even in her current state. It was definitely a summoning focus, so they'd come to the right place. "This is...old magic."

"How old?" Doc asked.

Jack inhaled deeply again. "From the world before the last world."

Church raised an eyebrow. "Fourth World magic?"

"I believe so," the troll said. "I can see the spirit's aura bleeding into her own. There is little distinction between them. Not a possession as most mages might think. It is...a bonding. There are spirits that attach to souls they believe they can use or aid. Most pass on their wisdom and are called mentor spirits. I have never heard of one deigning to share a body with a mage. Perhaps the spirit believed that it had no choice. Did she see the spirit?"

Doc snapped his fingers in front of Anna's face until her eyes focused on him. "What did it look like, girly?"

Anna smiled dreamily, still riding her high. "She was beautiful. Red and black hair, eyes golden and like a bird's, soft wings for arms, and taloned feet."

"Hmm. Maybe a spirit of air," Jack murmured. He looked down at Anna with some sympathy in his eyes. "Did it tell you its name, child?"

She tried to concentrate, but she felt herself drifting. An answer bubbled to the surface in a different, honeyed voice. Anna's lips moved without her input. " **I am the Howler in the Desert, the Queen of the Night, the Breaker of Chains, She Who Walks Without Shame…** "

Church went rigid at the sound of that voice. It was distinctly not Anna's.

"So I take it she doesn't usually sound like that." Jack didn't sound terribly concerned, his tone almost conversational. "Well, with names like those and the beacon-like quality, this is a unique spirit. How'd you manage to find something like this in Seattle?"

"She has a gift for trouble," Church said dryly. She frowned a little before looking at Jack. "Can a mage track someone by blood?"

Jack looked at her, his eyes suddenly narrowed. "Why?"

"She thinks someone has her blood and is trying to find her. Probably just the bliss, but is it possible?" Doc said quickly.

"Get out." Jack's voice was menacing, but his eyes were wide with fear.

Doc bristled. "Look here, Jack, you owe me!" the dwarf snapped, wagging a finger at the troll.

"Not enough to step in this, Doc. And you shouldn't step in it either. If a blood mage wants her, we'd all be better served getting out of their way. Some things you can't fight," Monterey Jack said, shaking his head. "Get her out of here before they track her to me. I want nothing to do with any of this."

"Your lodge is warded," Church said with a cold rationality, barely maintaining a grip on her own temper. "They would not be able to track her here."

Monterey Jack shook his head. "You don't know what these people are capable of."

Doc grabbed Church's arm before she could hurl herself at the troll mage. "Forget it, Church. We can find help somewhere else. Just grab her and let's go."

The Russian nodded and picked up Anna, hurrying out of the shack after Doc. This was far, far from over and she had no intention of just walking away.


	5. The Team

Anna stirred to life again an hour or so later, back in the safehouse. She could hear quiet discussion and rolled over. Church was there, frowning into her cup of soykaf. The smell reminded Anna that her aching, tired body could definitely use some of the caffeinated coffee substitute. Doc was rifling through his medkit. "...a decker might be nice too," the dwarf said. "I've got this ork kid who owes me. Got a head for that kinda thing."

"We do need more information on who these people are...and who the johnson was working for." Church stretched like a cat, closing her eyes for a second as she thought.

Anna sighed. "Corp, I think."

Doc jumped a little bit and looked over, his cybernetic eyes flickering as he blinked. "Well, 'bout time you woke up, Sunshine. I think you had Church worried."

"Sunshine?" Anna wasn't certain whether or not to be offended.

"Hey, you need a handle and I am here to oblige. Now, Church and I have been chatting. Sounds like we're going to put a team together and start figuring out what's happening in that pretty head of yours."

"I'm helping," Anna said automatically, sitting up. She was prepared to fight Church on it.

The Russian leaned back in her seat. "Of course." Her dark eyes were respectful. "We will need a mage and you are already heavily invested in this."

Anna was relieved, as she hadn't been terribly eager to try and battle Church into submission. Prepared, yes, but not excited for an argument. "Right, so...where from here? Who else do we have on the roster?"

"Hopefully an ork decker named Fuse. Shrimpy, but he's got some demo know-how too," Doc said. "And I already talked to Paladin. He's a big street sammy. Human like you...well, more chrome than human, but he's a good sort. That covers our bases, at least. More bullet-stoppers we have, better off you're going to be. I like my glass cannon well protected."

"How are you feeling?" Church asked with something that might have been concern when a shiver passed through Anna.

"I feel like I have a fever," the human admitted. "It's getting better, though."

"Well, Monterey Jack says you're an astral beacon at this point, for all the fragging good he did us." Doc sighed. "Sorry, Sunshine. I thought he'd do us more of a favor. He did at least confirm that you've got a roommate in that head of yours now. He said he thought it was a mentor spirit or something."

Anna was puzzled. She really didn't have much of a spirit affinity. "They're usually more drawn to shamans." It definitely wasn't a bug spirit, which at least came as a relief. She frowned. "Are you really going to keep calling me Sunshine?"

He grinned. "You got a better name for you and your spirit buddy?" He snapped his fingers. "Oh, I know. Mage? Twins? How about Gemini?"

Anna considered the suggestion. "Sounds better than Sunshine," she said with a nod of approval. "Drek, does this make me a shadowrunner?"

"You have the name for it now," Church said. She drummed her fingers on the table, manicured nails punctuating her thoughts with soft clicks. "It would be better that people not know your real name, including our prospective team members. Too dangerous."

Anna nodded. She could almost feel her world shifting so fast it made her head spin, though that might have just been the after-effects of her spirit encounter. Suddenly, her future was looking a lot more exciting, and not necessarily in a good way. "Are they meeting us here?"

"Nah. We're going to Paladin's place. He should have healed up by now. Fuse'll be easy to spook out of his hidey hole. Like I told Church, he owes me. We were just waiting for you to wake up." Doc started to pack together his medkit.

"Here," Church said, passing Anna a plastic bag with the logo of Wanda's Witchery on the side, an old-fashioned witch flying on a broomstick. Anna felt her spirits lift—she hadn't heard a bad word ever said about the restaurant, except maybe for how pricey it seemed to the denizens of Redmond. That wasn't saying much, of course, considering how impoverished her home city sector was.

Anna opened the bag and was hit with a smell that made her mouth water. There was a covered styrofoam bowl of still-warm tomato soup and two grilled cheese sandwiches wrapped up in grease-spotted paper. It was a little gesture to the Russian, but Anna was used to going to bed hungry more often than not. "Church, you didn't have to—"

The Vory killer shrugged. "Eat." She turned her dark eyes on Doc. "We will meet you."

"Sure," Doc said genially, shouldering his medkit. "Just so you know, Gemini, I didn't tell him what happened with the spirit, just that you were in trouble with somebody We thought you might prefer being able to decide what they know on your own."

Anna smiled self-consciously as she unwrapped her sandwiches. "It's weird being called that. But thanks. I guess we can tell them that I've got a mage problem. But maybe not about my close encounter of the spirit kind?"

Doc nodded thoughtfully. "Right. That can stay between us three." He did a last check to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. "Well, I'll see you two there. Stay out of trouble."

Church's eyes fixed on the kitchen window as Doc let himself out the front door, scanning the street for danger. The silence was a surprisingly comfortable one, but then again, Anna was used to Church being quiet. The elf was more at ease with the unspoken most of the time.

"So do you know either of them?" When the killer looked her way, Anna clarified, "Fuse and Paladin."

Church made a small noise that could have been exasperation or just confirmation. "Fuse, no. I know about Paladin. A washed-up Knights Errant detective. Decided that the law wasn't good enough, that it let too many 'bad' people off the hook. He hit the criminals in Redmond a few years ago, but he just broke his own fist. The docs had to chrome him up to keep him alive after some Yaks kicked his teeth and just about everything else in. Not a saint, but certainly holier-than-thou by reputation."

Anna grimaced. "Great. So when he finds out my day job…"

Church shook her head. "He has a soft spot for women like you. You will be fine."

"Like me?" Anna said defensively. "What kind of woman is that, exactly?"

Church finished her soykaf in one last, deep drink. "The good kind." She rose to her feet, patting herself down as if checking to make certain she had everything. "Eat. We do not have all day."

Anna settled into an embarrassed silence. She was never certain how to respond to Church. She said such nice things, but in that same blunt, almost brusque tone that made it seem cold. "Church?"

The elf's eyes flickered towards her. "Mm?"

"Thank you for this. For everything," Anna said softly.

Church shrugged, then started pacing from door to door, watching for danger.

Anna took the opportunity to wolf down her food, even though it made her stomach ache. It felt so, so good to have a warm meal in her body and the food tasted so, so much better than cold noodles and retextured soybeef. It made her feel alive again and helped reduce the feverish feeling. "Think I have time for a shower?" Anna said hopefully. She looked down at herself. She was still wearing the jeans with blood on them, though someone had stripped off her soiled hoodie. She'd loved that sweatshirt, but getting upset wouldn't save it.

Church smiled for a second, amused by the unabashed longing in Anna's voice. "I suppose."

Anna could have kissed her. "You're the best," she said with a bright smile before vanishing into the bedroom. She pulled out clean clothes from the bag on her bed, then hurried into the slightly dingy—but far superior to her rat-infested own—bathroom with its cracked mirror, steel fixtures, and peeling white paint.

The water was hot, which to Anna was proof that Heaven just might be a real place. She stripped quickly and jumped into the almost scalding water, reveling in the feeling of warmth soaking into her whole body. Even Ikon fell prey to the problems of Redmond, which included water that was only hot sometimes and even then only for a while. Her apartment's leaking, squealing shower had been exclusively cold. Renton was a little more high-class, which apparently meant that the plumbing was a little better.

 _I could get used to this,_ Anna reflected as she soaked in the warmth. She would never be Gemini, not on the inside, but she could enjoy some of the perks of her little dip into the runner part of the shadows she'd spent her whole life in. Being a dancer was fun, but it wasn't everything she'd ever wanted…not that shadowrunning was, nor was this a lovely introduction. Still, better than nothing. Her commlink started to blink as she toweled dry and so she padded over to it, bare feet sinking into the carpet.

As soon as she picked up, Leto's voice hit her full-force. " _Anna? Are you alright? I've been fragging worried about you_!"

"I'm okay," Anna promised soothingly.

It didn't seem to calm her friend. " _You didn't show up for work! Your place was trashed! What the drek was I supposed to think? You scared me to fragging death!"_

Anna felt her heart sink at the mention of her apartment. Somebody had gone there looking, apparently. "I swear I'm okay. I just...some drek happened. I'm not going to be able to come in for a little while."

" _Are you in trouble?"_

"Little bit," Anna admitted, doing her best to downplay the danger. "But I'm okay. I've got people protecting me."

" _Okay."_ Leto sounded like she was calming down. " _What do you want me to tell Yuri? I assume you won't be coming in to work. He's not happy."_

Anna worried at her lower lip with her teeth. It was true. She was one of the more popular girls, and considering the gouge that came out of her pay—for protection, separate from the Vory cut—a day off for her meant noticeably less money for him. She wasn't certain what would happen if she didn't go in, but she knew it might be trouble...or a more substantial fee as Yuri recouped his losses from her absence. "Tell him that I'm running something for Church _."_

" _That's a dangerous answer, Anna. No way she's going to lie for you."_

"Probably not." Anna didn't want to tell anyone how much Church looked out for her, in case it came back to haunt them later. "But maybe she will, just to piss off Antonov. He and Yuri are usually on the same wavelength."

" _Yeah,_ " Leto acknowledged over the comm. " _Just promise you'll stay out of it if Church and Antonov get start playing hit for hit, okay? You're pretty fragging breakable compared to her and he's got no problem crushing anybody."_

"I will," Anna promised as she clipped on her wireless earpiece. She started to quickly pull clothes on. If she took too long, she was certain Church would come looking—she had wasted enough time by just chatting without getting ready. "Thanks, Leto. I owe you."

" _You do,"_ Leto agreed. " _But hey, we've got to watch each other's backs. Nobody else does. Did you give Nina's offer any thought?"_

Anna pulled her solitary pair of clean jeans on, the fabric trying to cling to her legs. "Of course. What girl doesn't want to be a Vory joytoy?"

" _Don't be so sour. Nina's not going to get you into anything more dangerous than Ikon. Besides, it's good money. Really good money if you know how to blend in with the glitter—enough to live somewhere nice, three squares a day, and have a fun time too."_

"Yeah, well, if it's so fragging great, why aren't you doing it?" Anna mumbled. It took her just a second to fish her hairbrush out of the bag and start handling the tangles. She wasn't going to pretty up much, not when there was a chance she might be sliding into a blood puddle or something again. The last time she'd gone to meet someone, it hadn't exactly ended in her favor.

" _I did for a while, before I met my hunk of burnin' love. Ben's such a brute when he gets jealous. C'mon, how is it different from some special attention at Ikon for cash? I know I've seen you do that."_

"One, this would make it official. Two, if I get into trouble, Yuri's not in the next room to bail me out."

" _Nina likes her girls. She doesn't let them go with dirtbags or psychos."_

Anna frowned. "Unless they have enough money. Why does it matter to you, Leto?"

Leto sighed in her almost-dramatic way. " _You need to get out of Redmond, Anna. Don't let it suck you in the way it grabbed me. If you can find a guy who needs a mistress or make yourself into a real escort, you can swap this shithole for the glam. Yeah, it won't be perfect, but it's better than this."_

The mage's expression softened slightly. It was Leto's way of caring. Besides, the older dancer had a point. Right now, Anna knew she probably wasn't going to have a job at Ikon much longer—it was Yuri's say at the end of the day and he could be vindictive—and if she was going to protect herself, it would take money. Whatever name Doc had given her, she was no professional. "Is Nina there?"

" _Yeah, at the bar. Why?"_

Anna made her decision. "Ask her when she wants to see me and text me her answer, okay? I've got some stuff going on, but...I might be able to free up a night or two a week." Church wasn't going to be her bodyguard, but Anna had defended herself in the past….even if the drain had given her one hell of a nosebleed. She could make it work and the nuyen would come in handy for maintaining her residence in the safehouse. It was going to be more expensive than her apartment, particularly since she would have to pay the Vory for the ability to use it. Church hadn't said so, but Anna knew that was only because they thought _Church_ was using it, which was technically true. The moment that the contract killer resumed her normal routine and life, Anna would be footing the bill.

She could almost hear Leto's relief. " _No problem, omae. I'm glad you're up for it, because Yuri looked like a fragging beet when you weren't in today."_

Anna opened the door to the hall only to see Church coming down the hall. "Yeah. Stay safe, Leto. I'll comm you later."

" _Don't get dead."_ The call ended with a soft chime in Anna's ear.

The Russian killer raised an eyebrow to ask, without asking directly, what the call had been about. For all her aloofness, Church could be downright expressive when the mood hit her.

Anna knew she could just tell Church it was none of her business, but she didn't particularly want to...not that she wanted the elf to know what she'd just agreed to either. Church wasn't likely to judge, but others would and they couldn't afford to leave the hitmage or the heat a trail of the broken bodies of said judgmental people to follow. Better to just omit anything that had the potential to annoy Church, for everyone's safety. "Leto was just freaked out when she went by my place and saw it trashed."

If Church knew that things were being left out, she didn't say anything on the subject. "We are going to be late."

" _Fashionably_ late," Anna corrected breezily, grabbing a jacket off the couch as they headed for the door. She smiled when she heard Church's laugh. It was a nice sound, one she didn't hear very often.

"I sup—" Church made an irritated sound and touched behind her own ear, answering her commlink. She had a subvocal microphone, which allowed her to murmur inaudibly instead of speaking and still be understood. The Russian didn't stop walking, but she didn't start the motorcycle right away either. Anna took the opportunity to don the helmet she was borrowing from Church. It was a short call and then they were on the road.

Their destination was back in Redmond, a cybercafe built into the ground level floor of a square, concrete apartment complex with a big glass front window that allowed view into a room where a fair number of people sitting in front of various glowing blue screens, most of them decks. Its sign, in old-school game text, announced that the cafe was called The Bits. It was a boring building on the outside in the real world, just grey and covered with flyers, but Anna's contact lenses had augmented reality active and so she could see the glowing extravaganza of brilliantly colored advertisements and graffiti visible in the Matrix. "Are we really meeting a street sammy here?" Anna murmured as they pulled up, her comm easily isolating her voice from the noise of traffic.

Church's voice was oddly reassuring over even comms. "In one of the back rooms. Deckers meet their teams here all the time."

Anna spotted Doc waiting for them out front, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "I was 'bout ready to send out a search party," he groused when they approached. "Thought you'd run afoul of a hitmage or something."

"I wanted to clean up." The mage tucked her hands into her jacket pockets. It wasn't raining, but a cold wind was blowing in off the Sound. "So did they come?"

"Yep," Doc said, scratching at his short beard. "But Paladin wasn't happy when your name came up, Church."

Anna turned to the Russian. "I thought you'd never been locked up in the States."

"I have not, nor convicted," Church said casually. "But I have been detained now and again for questioning. I have a criminal SIN."

"So when they round up the usual suspects for anything Russian and bad, they grab you just in case." Anna frowned and looked back at Doc. "But he's here still."

"I told him that you were a nice girl in a rough spot. That's enough for him to hear you out," the old dwarf said. "And Fuse is nervous, but he's always twitchy, so nothing new there. I'd be real worried if he was suddenly calm, you know?"

The inside of The Bits was cleaner than Anna had been expecting. It smelled like caffeine and intermittent personal hygiene. It was quiet except for the buzzing of decks, as most people in here seemed to prefer virtual communication. The chatroom for the cafe was buzzing with activity. Anna couldn't see the avatars other than as small icons, but her comm blinked almost constantly as messages poured in. There were a couple of _hey baby_ messages that she ignored, but for the most part the deckers were sticking with their own. Doc lead the way to a back room and held the door for Anna, allowing her a first look at her new team members.

Paladin was a grizzled human with a face that was half obvious chrome. His right arm was obviously cybered and so was his left leg. Dermal plating turned his good arm mostly grey and burn scars had turned the skin on his neck an almost shiny white color. His non-cybered eye was a brilliant blue and looked almost friendly, if wary. He clearly hadn't shaved in a while, stubble growing out on his chin. His short-cropped hair was cut in an almost military style. He might have been handsome once. A military surplus jacket bulged from his muscle augmentations, looking well-loved and occasionally torn from bullets. He had a few patches on the sleeves, but none of them were gang colors.

Next to him, slouching in his chair, was a lanky green-skinned ork kid who had to be barely seventeen, pockmarks from acne scarring his face. He was wearing glasses hooked up to the deck sitting on the table, green text scrolling across the screen and matching the flashes of light that had to be some kind of video. His combat bikers shirt was for their home-team, the Seattle Timber-wolves. The pockets of Fuse's worn cargo pants were packed with lengths of wire and various computer components, as well as several different burner commlinks. He shifted restlessly in his seat and drummed his fingers rapidly on the table, an erratic staccato pattern that spoke of nerves.

Both looked up when Anna and Church followed Doc in. Fuse brightened up while Paladin's expression darkened. "Hey, you didn't tell me the mage was smokin', Doc," the ork decker said with a smile that showed off yellowed teeth and his tusks. One was cracked, probably from a bad run in with a go-ganger or some other bully. "I'm going to assume the one with the tats is Church." He looked at Anna, eyes flickering up and down her. She wasn't offended, considering it was a typical reaction. At least he was only checking her out and not undressing her with his eyes. "Nice to meet _you_ , Gemini."

"Same, Fuse." The dancer smiled in her best friendly way before looking at Paladin. He didn't look nearly as thrilled. "You too, Paladin."

He relaxed slightly at that, though his eyes were still focused on Church in a less than friendly way. "Doc said you were in a rough spot," the former Knights Errant officer said once he finally looked away from the Russian. "I want to help."

"So, I can't exactly pay you guys other than if we find anything valuable as we go," Anna admitted. "At least, not right now."

Fuse waved a hand almost airily. "I owe Doc. Plus, we could grab a bite from a stuffer-shack and see where things go."

Anna smiled in that same pleasant way. She'd had worse dates than with this kid, even if he was too young. It wouldn't hurt her to be friendly. "Maybe."

"I don't need the pay," Paladin said seriously. "You are in danger. That's reason enough to help."

That was the moment when it sank in for Anna. She had a team, a job, and a handle. Drek, she really was a shadowrunner now. Leto's words played in her head again. _Don't get dead._ Anna knew from the chats she'd had with Church that sometimes, that was easier said than done.


	6. Merciful Intel

Fuse rubbed his good tusk thoughtfully as he looked at the snapshot of Anna's mage assailant's face, captured by her image-link contacts. She hadn't played the video to avoid showing them the thing with her blood. It gave her a bad feeling that she wasn't ready to share. Better that just Doc and Church knew, at least until she trusted the new two. "Well, I can do an image search for a mage by that description. Plus there should be camera feed from the parking lot. Might be a good start." Without waiting for an answer, he started tapping away at his deck.

"I have some corporate security contacts," Paladin said as he leaned back in his creaking chair slightly. "They might know the bodyguard. But I think I've seen him before, recently, here in Redmond. I think it was at Banshee. He's memorable—those tattoos aren't the usual gang or syndicate markings."

"I could feel magic in him. I think those markings might be an adept focus," Anna said. "A way to help counteract the essence loss from cyberware."

"This chrome-dome was a little heavy on the 'ware for magic," Doc commented. "You sure it was him and not the mage? Maybe she had a spell on him. She could have been controlling his mind."

Anna nodded slowly, but almost hopefully. "Maybe." She felt something shift in her chest, like a cat making itself comfortable. It was an unnerving feeling, a reminder that she wasn't alone in her own body anymore. "So are we hitting up Banshee? Who runs the place?"

"Mercy," Paladin said. "She was an organ-legger until she went halfway legit. Infected and not shy about it. Dangerous, though, between her vampiric strength, phys-ad abilities, and ready supply of goons."

Doc brightened up a little. "She's also an info broker these days, so she might give us some tidbits if we can pay. I did some work with her back in the day."

"And how are we going to pay? I don't exactly have deep pockets," Anna murmured.

"There are lots of ways to pay without money." Doc sounded confident in his assertion. "Make a delivery, break some kneecaps, some kind of favor."

"Not the kind of woman I want to owe," Paladin muttered.

"Beggars can't be choosers," Fuse pointed out. He stood up and closed his deck, tucking it into his battered, olive drab case. "I'll see if I can dig up anything juicy that Mercy might want in exchange. I can do that on the way while the image search is running. Let's buzz."

They took separate vehicles to the club, Fuse and Doc joining Paladin in his truck while she went with Church again on the motorcycle. It was almost becoming a habit. Banshee was an expansive building, occupying a full city block. By the time they made it through traffic, the nightclub was just opening. Anna felt a little more comfortable as she heard the familiar pulse of bass and caught the smell of alcohol. Dealers lingered in the alleys around the building, ever ready to help someone have a good time. It was not in a good part of town, a little close to the tenements where the Infected community had been pushed for the comfort of more cautious people. The club scene was booming here, though, for the same reason as Ikon if not more so: the allure of danger. People were never more alive than when they were dancing with death. Anna didn't share the addiction, but she understood it.

They were stopped at the door by a burly loup-garou. The lupine metahuman was covered in a coat of short, grey-black fur with prominent sharp teeth and claws. There was a gleam of feral, if somewhat diminished, intelligence in those golden eyes. "Check," he growled.

Doc sighed, Paladin frowned, and Fuse fidgeted, but Church fished out a credstick and handed it over. The Infected slotted it in his comm, checking the balance. No club really liked partiers who didn't have money to spend, even in Redmond. The loup-garou grinned fiercely and passed the credstick back. He looked Church up and down, noting the business wear and the metahuman weapon in it. "Like your style, elf. Head in."

"If we wanted to talk to Mercy, where can we find her?" Church asked. Her tone was almost perfectly neutral, but betrayed something that sounded like idle curiosity.

"Downstairs midnight to three, upstairs before and after." He grinned, showing far too many fangs for Anna's comfort. "Careful. Gets hungry."

"Thanks," Church said with a little nod.

Paladin started to walk in, but the loup-garou frowned. "Swords get checked inside," he warned. "No sammy trouble."

"Of course," Paladin said dryly, giving the doorman a nod. He didn't look happy, but he wasn't surprised either. "I'm here to play by Mercy's rules."

"Good. Don't want to see the bakebrains that don't." The loup-garou studied Anna for a second, but his gaze seemed more curious than lecherous. It was a refreshing change, but also unsettling for her. Then again, all Infected were dual-natured. They could perceive astrally as easy as breathing and she was sure she stood out even for a mage, at least if Monterey Jack was right. He gave her a little nod and opened the door for them. A line was already forming behind him of people eager to get in. In a few minutes, the place would be packed.

Paladin reluctantly checked his crusader-style cruciform sword on the inside, glaring fiercely at the ork attendant who took it. Fuse just chuckled, but it was a nervous laugh. Their decker stepped a little closer to the main group. "I don't like this," the ork kid said. "What if I get fraggin' scratched?"

"Unintentional HMHVV infection may be the least of our problems depending on Mercy's mood," Doc said almost cheerfully.

Fuse tensed up like he was going to run. "Thanks, Doc. I feel way better now."

The dwarf grinned. "Happy to help."

Church turned. "We should get a drink and take stock of the room. We can go upstairs in a few minutes."

Paladin shook his head. "Sooner the better. I don't like this place."

"There are worse places," Anna said, trying to find a positive side as they made their way to the bar. "I mean, Infected are just like everyone else, trying to make a living." She ordered vodka for Church and a mixed drink for herself. What the boys wanted was up to them.

"As corrupt and dangerous as everyone else," the former Knights Errant officer said. "There are more drugs and disappearances spawned here than even Ikon. Probably because at Ikon, you aren't on the menu."

"So suspicious," a sultry voice said from behind them. Something in the woman's tone was so suggestive that Anna actually shivered. It was a voice that promised incredible darkness in the best of ways.

"Mercy, good to see you," Doc said as they all turned around.

The vampire's brown hair was up at the moment in a complicated bun, exposing a slender neck and still framing a delicate face. She reminded Anna of an ancient china doll, perfectly formed but delicate. Her eyes were a deep red and her mouth was a crimson gash beneath the lipstick. She was wearing a perfectly fitted dark leather jacket over low cut, ruby-colored shirt, accompanied by low-rise jeans that looked perfectly molded to her body. Many rings gleamed on her fingers to complement the dozen earrings in her ears. "I heard someone was looking for me. I strive to always be obliging," she said silkily. But while she may have been speaking to Doc, her hungry eyes were completely focused on Anna.

Paladin scowled, well aware of where the vampire's attention was. Church was her usual quiet self, watching and waiting. "Leave her—" their street samurai started.

"Shh," Mercy said, gaze flashing over to the former cop for a moment in irritation. "You bring the most _interesting_ people to my club, Paladin. First Knights Errant, and now this charming group. A street doc, a cowboy, a Vory cleaner...it could be the beginning of a fine joke, or a riveting police report, more likely. But your lovely mage I don't recognize. Her aura is far more memorable than anything else I've seen in this wretched city. The essence bleeds off her. It's so very tantalizing."

Anna realized she was gripping Church's arm almost tight enough to leave a bruise. When she went to let go, a hand covered hers and Church shook her head almost imperceptibly. It made Mercy's smile widen slightly.

"Such a good friend. I'm afraid I'm really more interested in her than you, though." Mercy made a shooing motion. "Buzz. She can find you in a little bit, after we've had our little tête-à-tête."

Church looked at Anna questioningly, but didn't immediately move. Neither did Paladin. Fuse and Doc, however, scooted further down the bar. They knew by reputation—and Doc by experience—that Mercy didn't like having to ask twice.

"I'll be fine," Anna promised even though she could feel nerves starting to wreak merry hell on her stomach. "Really."

"If you are not, I know who to find," Church said.

"I like your fire, razorgirl," Mercy said with amusement. "Someday, I think I'd like to see if you can walk the talk."

Church shrugged expressively and then let Anna's hand go. She started to walk past Paladin, who grabbed her by the shoulder. "You're not serious," he said incredulously.

Church's answer was an elbow to his solar plexus. The motion was sharp and hard, doubly unpleasant for being unexpected. Even with all his metal, Paladin had weak spots. He bent forward, hands covering his midsection as he tried not to vomit. Church snagged him by a wrist, throwing him into a pain compliance hold and using it to lead him forcibly away or risk having his good hand destroyed.

"Such a charming woman," Mercy said with a smile. She stepped into Anna's space, almost pinning her against the bar. "What's your name, mage?"

"Gemini," Anna said, her breath catching a little. She was terrified of the vampire, but she kept up a frown rather than a wide-eyed, frozen expression of panic.

"Astrological. How delightful. I do love mythology." The vampire leaned in until their noses were hair's breadth apart. "You and I could have such fun. There are a thousand things I could do to you and I promise you'd enjoy every one."

Anna knew she wouldn't be able to get away if Mercy's temper was triggered. She was a vampire _and_ a phys-ad. That meant walking through a minefield to get what she wanted. "Like draining my essence dry?"

The vampire laughed, flicking a lock of hair away from Anna's neck to expose skin. "Dry? No, that would be a terrible waste. But I would like a taste. You're special. Unique, even. You have a power that I can feel in my bones, like the charge before a lightning strike. I wonder what would happen if I just gave you a little push."

The mage rallied. "I need to know about a mage who attacked me," Anna said. "Help me with that and maybe we can negotiate."

Mercy laughed. "The bloodmage?" she purred close to Anna's ear, too close for anyone to overhear. They were acquiring a small audience. "For you, anything. What would you like to know?"

"Who is she?" Anna wasn't certain how much Mercy knew, but the mention of blood magic made her heart start to race fearfully. It was a horrible, horrible thing even in just the few whispers she'd heard. She jumped when she felt Mercy's hand close around her wrist, fingers resting above her pulse point.

Mercy was still smiling, still watching her every little expression. "You're frightened. Worried that your little friends aren't enough to keep you safe? You should be. Still, you asked a question and it would be remiss of me not to answer. Her name is Kier. She was—or is, who can say?—a wagemage for Aztechnology who worked primarily down in the Los Angeles area on a...special project. The specifics I don't know, but my did it require a lot of blood. Living, breathing blood. More recently, she's been availing herself of Redmond's unfortunates. Including my customers. She's bad for business."

"And the cyberpsycho?"

"Decidedly not my type." Mercy laughed and ran her fingers up under the hem of Anna's shirt, tracing geometric patterns on bare skin. The mage did her best to ignore it and listened as the vampire continued, "Xiuhcoatl is his name. What a piece of work. He's a phys-ad. Cybermancy allows him to keep his power even with damaged essence—a tradition of blood magic. She also has an apprentice named Tlaloc, a combat mage, and another called Nenetl who specializes in manipulation magic. Mostly the manipulation of minds."

"Grea—" Anna stopped abruptly, eyes going wide, when she felt a tongue trace its way up her throat, right over her jugular vein. Mercy was a hell of a lot closer than she'd realized. There was a massive difference between this and work at the club. A wrong move, a wrong reaction, and the vampire could do her a wound few could replicate. Essence drain was doubly crippling for a mage, not to mention the risk of infection if Mercy changed her mind and drained her dry. "St…st…"

"Stop?" Mercy murmured against her neck, laugh low and throaty. "Is that _really_ what you want, Gemini? Oh, unless you're spoken for. With the way Paladin's glaring, I'd think the two of you were married. Or maybe it's the gillette who gives you the shivers?"

Anna put her hands on Mercy's shoulders and gave her a push back a few inches. "I know what I want. I'll pay you back, Mercy, but not this way."

The vampire's lips formed a pout. "How disappointing. I suppose we can come to some kind of arrangement. I do have a quick job that needs doing. Dangerous, but simple."

The mage felt her nerves calming a little as Mercy moved back out of her space. Out of the corner of her eye, Anna could see Church and the others relax a little too. The Russian's hand slipped out from the inside of her jacket where it had been touching the grip of a concealed pistol and Paladin unclenched his steel fist. "I'm listening," Anna said.

"A group of Ancients want me to be paying protection money, lest Banshee burn down. No one starts static with me," Mercy said casually. "I want those fragging dandelion eaters taking dirt-naps before sunrise."

Anna swallowed hard. Ancients were _tough_ , from everything she'd heard. Suddenly, taking Mercy up on her original offer was looking damn appealing. "Where can we find them?" she said, keeping her brave face on as well as she could.

"They've got a hangout a few blocks down at Shandalar's Parlor," the vampire said. Anna recognized the name—one of the classier brothels in Redmond, not that the bar for 'classy' was particularly high in this area. Mercy's smile showed pearly fangs. "Good luck. Try not to let them mess up that pretty face." She blew Anna a kiss before sauntering gracefully back towards the stairs to the upper levels, melding into the crowd.

"Are you alright?" Church asked before the others could even open their mouths, already at Anna's side.

"Yeah," Anna said. Her mouth felt desert dry. "I…I guess we're going to go fight some Ancients." Her knees were starting to feel weak too. She turned to the Vory killer. "Church, I don't know if I can do this. They're fragging _hard_. I mean, an Ancients mage could have me for breakfast."

"You have us," Paladin said as he stepped over. He put a reassuring hand on Anna's shoulder, earning a glare from Church. He ignored it. "We should get out of here."

"Yeah," Fuse agreed, his eyes still a little wide. He cleared his throat. "That happen a lot, Doc?" When the street doc looked at him for clarification, Fuse elaborated, "Mercy putting her hands _all_ over Gemini."

The dwarf shrugged. "Eh, she's always been a flirt."

"Is that what they're calling that these days?" Anna said weakly. Her hand moved back to Church's arm. There was something reassuringly solid about the Russian. Paladin was a newer face, but he made her feel safer too.

Doc chuckled before asking a more serious question. "Did she have an answer for you?"

"Yeah," Anna said with a nod. "I got names on the mage, her monster, and her apprentice. We can talk about the rest on the way to Shandalar's." She took a deep breath. "Not gonna be a good fragging day."

Church shrugged. "You never know," the Russian said philosophically. "It will be exciting."

"Oh yeah," Anna mumbled. "Totally digging the idea of being shot at."

Their ork decker gave her a little grin before eyeing Paladin and Church. "That's why we've got meat shields."

Church shot him a severe look. "You have some security to take a look at, Fuse. We do not want the Ancients to put a hit out on you, after all. Take Paladin and Doc with you to stake out the place. I have some words for our mage."

His green skin went a few shades paler. "Right." Fuse gave them his anxious little nod and scurried for the door.

Paladin didn't budge. "You aren't in command, Church. Back off," he said in his gravelly voice. "This isn't fragging Vory knee-capping."

Anna could almost hear her friend's temper shoot through the roof. If she didn't defuse it, there would be blood. "It's my job, my say," Anna said quickly. "We're all on the same team. Paladin, we'll meet you out there in a minute or two, okay?"

He grudgingly nodded. "Sure, Gemini." Paladin started after Fuse and Doc, leaving Anna with an angry elf to deal with.

Church's expression barely showed anything, the only real expression in the thin line of her lips and the narrowness of those dark, burning coal eyes. Anna sighed a little bit. She didn't know Church well and she was the first to admit that, but she recognized more than most the danger that lived in subtle expressions on that face. She'd seen Church hurt people at Ikon...a lot. "You wanted to talk?" Anna said, hoping that would distract her.

"I should break him," Church hissed quietly before focusing her full attention on Anna. "Are you really alright? Did Mercy drain you at all?"

"No, though she was definitely thinking about it." She smiled faintly at the Russian. Sometimes, Church almost looked worried, and this was definitely one of those times. "Thanks for having my back. I know that if she'd tried to, you would have stepped in."

The Russian's eyes met hers for a second before roving away, back to their usual duty of searching for danger. "I almost did. If she hadn't listened when you pushed her away…"

"Yeah, vampire brains just everywhere, I know," Anna said lightly. She smiled faintly when she saw Church's lips lift slightly at the corners in something that might have been a ghost of a smile. "You really know how to treat a girl, Church. Now c'mon, let's catch up with the boys before they decide to take on the Ancients without us. Can't have them hogging all that certain death."


	7. The First Test

"Gemini should take a look," Paladin said as they sat down at the cheap diner a block from Shandalar's Parlor, mostly finished with their scouting run. "If they're giving Mercy trouble, they probably have at least a few spirits. Maybe a mage."

"Those two things tend to go together," Anna mumbled. She did _not_ like the idea of buzzing another mage, not without knowing what the hell was sharing her soul right now.

"Gemini is an astral beacon," Doc said as he dumped creamer into his soykaf with the self-indulgent abandon of a sugar-starved kindergartener. "They'll ping her pretty quick."

"Can't she fly casual or something?" Fuse said, though he seemed more preoccupied with putting his scouting in order.

"I doubt that they are really giving Mercy trouble," Church said thoughtfully, in answer to Paladin's initial statement. "She has the resources to make just about anyone in Redmond or Renton disappear. No, this is something else."

Paladin grimaced. "I like the sound of that even less."

Anna agreed with that statement wholeheartedly, turning a little in her seat to face Church. "What do you think is going on?"

Church seemed completely unperturbed. "From what I know of her? This is a test. I would not be surprised if they are expecting trouble from us."

The street samurai glowered at the prospect. "And you think this because…?"

Church shrugged. "If she wants an accurate assessment of what we are capable of, that would be the best way to accomplish it. You have a reputation, Paladin. I have a reputation. Doc and Fuse have reputations, though less...weighty than ours. Gemini has no reputation at all—she is new to the shadows. The unknown is unpredictable. I expect the test is more for our mage than you or I."

Anna sighed. "I guess we'd better give them a show, then." She sort of regretted the fact that she wasn't a combat mage, though she wouldn't have changed her illusion affinity for the world. She had a few tricks up her sleeve that she'd been too scared to use on the blood-mage's apprentice. The Ancients were catching her on-guard, which meant she would be prepared...as prepared as she could be, anyway.

"So what I'm hearing is guns blazing," Fuse muttered. "Not a lot of camera coverage in Redmond, but they've got a few set up. I can yank the feeds, but that won't help anyone who IDs you in meatspace."

"That would be appreciated," Church said. She didn't smile or say thanks more properly, clearly still mostly lost in thought. She drummed her fingers on the table in a slow beat. Finally, she said, "Do we have a count on the Ancients holed up here?"

"Best guess is probably eight or so," Fuse said, displaying images on electronic paper. "Not sure which one's the mage. They all look pretty tough. A few with cyberware."

"Well, we'll see," Church said, standing up. "Fuse, Doc, stay in the van for this one."

Paladin scowled, but probably more at the idea of Church giving orders than the actual plan itself. "You want to go charging in there with no plan?"

"We're all on the same team," Anna said to smooth things over, though she doubted it would actually work.

It earned her a small nod from Church. "My plan is to draw them out," the contract killer said. "Gemini, how good are you at banishing?"

"Pretty good, actually," Anna said. "I spend most of my practice working on it and counterspelling."

Paladin relaxed ever so slightly. "How are you in a fight?"

"I'd rather not," Anna admitted. She'd been in a few scraps, but nothing a little stunbolt hadn't been able to solve. She'd never killed anyone, because she'd never had to. Death wasn't a stranger in Redmond, but Anna had never dished it out. "That said, I have some tricks."

"We will protect you," Church said in that blunt tone, as if she was passing on the words of a unsmiling god. It made Anna feel better, if only because Church had never let her down.

"This is going to be ugly," Fuse said, wincing a little. "I've got you guys covered."

Church prowled down the street towards Shandalar's, Paladin trudging along behind her and loosening up his shoulders. Both the street sammy and their cleaner never strayed from Anna's proximity, though Church was in the lead to absorb any bullets that might fly in Anna's direction.

Anna stopped to do a little astral peek around the building. "Beast spirit," she said softly. "Powerful too."

"On a scale of one to six?" Paladin asked. In his experience, that was the level of most spirits in the shadows.

Anna did a discreet assensing. "I'd say five."

"Wiz," Paladin muttered sarcastically. He looked over at the Russian. "Bullets don't exactly work on spirits, Church, and I haven't got a weapon focus."

Church turned around, no sign of hesitation or doubt in her expression. "Gemini, can you handle it?" Her tone was calm rather than harsh.

"Only if you geek the mage ASAP," Anna said. "I can't banish a spirit like that and be throwing spells around at the same time."

"I don't like this," Paladin said.

"That's nice," Church said dismissively, returning to her walk towards Shandalar's Parlor.

The street ahead was not empty. As they approached, five figures detached from the shadows. Paladin flexed his cybered arm and then let his chrome hand rest on the hilt of his sword, eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the gang approaching.

Church didn't really react. Her hands were tucked in her pockets still and she strolled forward. Anna suspected that Church wasn't ready to show her tattoos just yet. They had a way of intimidating the people familiar with syndicate markings.

Three more stepped out to flank Paladin, Anna, and Church. It made Anna's stomach knot with fear. "Church, this is fragging bad," she whispered into her mic.

The killer's voice was strangely reassuring in her earpiece, replying, "Just be ready to get down. Paladin and I can take the beating. This is not so impossible."

Anna took a deep breath. "Sure thing, omae," she whispered.

The Ancients leader, probably a lieutenant of some bigger boss, strolled right up. He was a tall, powerfully-built elf with Tir Tairngire's symbol tattooed on the side of his neck. Anna assensed him quickly and did not like what she discovered. He was an adept, and a powerful one. She was willing to bet a fortune that he was a phys-ad. That meant Church was walking into a fight with a monster. Paladin's attention was elsewhere, turning to focus on the ones behind.

"Seems like you jokers picked the wrong part of town to start static in," the elf said, looking the group up and down. "Though I guess that's not a surprise coming from Redmond's own little lost heater. Now what poor sods did you sweet-talk into your suicide mission?"

Paladin laughed. "Oh, one of us is going to die here, keeb. Just not me."

Anna almost winced. Throwing that particular derogatory term at an Ancients member was the kind of thing only the intensely suicidal would do. Still, the adept in front of them didn't really react. His goons, however, moved forward far more aggressively.

"Tough talk, Paladin," the adept said, studying Church and Anna. He smiled a little. "I think you girls need a better boyfriend. You're wasted on some preachy bake-brain like him. How about you hang with me?"

Anna moved so Church was between her and the adept. She focused on the beast spirit as it approached, one of the biggest of its kind that she'd actually seen. This was about to get rough, particularly when she realized that it was pinging her as a bigger threat than Church.

"Ladon, geek the pretty one now!" one of the other Ancients shouted, outing himself as their mage.

Church punched out, hitting the adept in solar plexus. He spun to soften the blow, swinging around his elbow with all that momentum, but Church had followed him, grabbing the front of his jacket as she did. She brought her palm up to slam into his chin, which might have been shrugged off...if she hadn't deployed the spur. There was a nasty, wet sound and his body twitched before going limp.

Anna had to trust that Church and Paladin could handle it. She dropped to the ground so gunfire would have a harder time targeting her and went astral for a minute. She found the link between the beast spirit and its summoner. The beast spirit sensed what she was doing and resisted with a growl, but its struggle was brief and in vain. In a second, she removed the favors that were keeping it bound and the spirit vanished. Anna popped back to her body and turned her head to look at Church.

The Russian batted a blade away and then drove her spur through the offending assailant's ribs. Anna heard a gunshot and saw Church flinch. "Church, Paladin, get down!" Anna shouted. Without waiting for an answer, she started to weave a spell, each movement of her fingers forming a sigil in the air. She whispered incantations and then let the mana flow. She was sinking an immense amount of power into it, but she was pretty sure that she could take it without knocking herself unconscious.

Granted, she'd been wrong before.

There was no boom or visual effect, but the result was immediate. For everyone in the vicinity besides Anna, the world exploded into a flashing cacophony. The mage was hit with a horrible migraine, enough that she saw stars and felt herself start to blackout, but that was pretty good for the massive illusion she was now sustaining. Chaotic World was a hell of a spell.

Church and Paladin both grabbed Anna, but kept their heads down. There was gunfire, but it was mostly friendly-fire between the Ancients. Together, the street sammy and the killer got their mage the hell out of the way.

"Next time, closer to an alley!" Paladin boomed, trying to shout over the sound of the deafening clamor in his ears. Once they made it to the edge of the spell's effect, he lowered his voice, "That was damn impressive."

Church shook the blood off her spur before retracting it. Then she drew her sleek pistol from its concealment holster, checking it for a moment before leaning out of cover and shooting two of the Ancients who were struggling in the grips of the illusions. When she wasn't being slowed by the illusion, she was moving at inhuman speed. Anna hadn't realized just how much of the Russian was bioware. Then again, the mage had never bothered to assense Church.

"We're not out of this yet," Anna managed, cupping a hand over her nose as it streamed blood. "That mage…"

A sizable manabolt hit Paladin as if on cue, earning a growl from the cybered man. He pushed Anna back against the wall so she was out of direct line of sight. The enemy mage would have a harder time targeting her there. Then Paladin drew his sword and looked in the direction of the mage.

The Ancients mage was at the far edge of the illusion, grinning. He was behind a car enough that Church hadn't seen him and clearly ready to seek cover if he was shot at. The moment he saw Paladin unsling his shotgun, the mage took cover behind the car.

"Drop the spell," Paladin said.

"Church isn't finished," Anna said. It was taking most of her mental energy to maintain the spell, but she didn't want to let it go quite yet.

He fired a shot at the closest ganger, his shotgun even more lethal than Church's pistol. Pretty soon, the mage would be the only one left. "Church, hurry up!"

Anna saw Church's jaw tighten, but the killer didn't look away from what she was doing to glare at him.

The moment the last one in the open was struck by a shot, Anna dropped the spell. Paladin roared as he bolted across the street, taking another manabolt for his trouble. The street-samurai dove across the car the mage was hiding behind. He rolled, catching the man's head as he did. There was a horrible crack from the mage's neck under the torque generated by the twist of Paladin's body.

"Are you alright?" Church asked Anna, helping the mage up.

"Did we just win?" she said hopefully.

The Russian shrugged, returning her pistol to its holster. She looked down at herself, examining the blood spattered across the front of her shirt. "I need to change when we are finished."

Anna shook her head a little. "Did not have you figured for the fashion-conscious, Church," she said with a smile.

"Blood prompts questions," Church said, holding out a dark handkerchief.

Anna took it gratefully, staunching the flow of blood from her nose. "I guess so." She looked down at herself. Her shirt was bloody too, though hers was all self-inflicted. "Twins?"

Church laughed.

Paladin was searching the bodies of the Ancients, at least in a cursory sense. He retrieved a few credsticks and left everything else alone, including their weapons.

Fuse's voice crackled to life on their comms. "Holy drek, that was awesome!"

The Russian grabbed Anna's arm and pulled her back towards the van. Paladin brought up the rear, looking around. "Fuse, did any signal leave?"

The door to the van opened, revealing a grinning Fuse. Doc was still in the driver's seat. "Nope, thanks to yours truly. 'Cause guess who's awesome? This guy. Never seen gangers get reconfig'ed so elegantly before, Ms. Clean. I knew Paladin can handle his stuff, but _damn_."

"Gemini's spell kept us from dying," Church said, letting Anna get in the van before stepping in herself. "We would have been very unhappy in the crossfire." She took off her jacket once the vehicle was in motion, revealing a large stain of blood on her side.

"Woah, that looks bad," Fuse said. "Hey Doc, Church got tagged."

"I've had worse," Church said dismissively. "Most of the blood isn't mine."

"Gemini, how does it look?" Doc called over his shoulder. "Church said you've got a little medic in you."

Anna reached out, untucking Church's shirt and pulling it up so she could take a look. "Deep graze," the mage reported. She was feeling a bit drained to heal, but she knew she could. As soon as she started to chant, Church grabbed her wrist and shook her head.

"Save your strength," the Russian said. "We still have to deal with Mercy."

"Right," Anna said before looking around to find a medkit. Fortunately, Doc had brought his. She opened it up and bandaged Church up inexpertly. Magical healing was more her area, but she knew enough to do a basic trauma bandage.

"You're a woman of many talents," Paladin observed. "What was that spell?"

"An illusion, designed for sensory overload. Makes it real hard for the people affected to do anything," Anna explained as she worked. "Sorry I hit you guys with it."

"Don't be," Church said. "It worked."

They stopped at the safehouse long enough for Church and Anna to change clothes, then headed back to Banshee. Instead of having to flag down staff and request an audience with Mercy, the vampire was waiting for them at the bar.

"Impressive," Mercy said when they approached her, hungry eyes settling on Anna again. "I do believe we can call things square."

"Don't much appreciate your games," Paladin said gruffly.

"No autopsy, no foul," Anna said. She tried not to show fear in front of the vampire, even though she was feeling rather a lot like a walking, talking meal. "You could've said it was a test."

Mercy smiled. "I find tests are most effective when unexpected. Now, I'd like to offer you a little tidbit for free, Gemini."

"Free?" Anna asked suspiciously.

"Our interests are in alignment at the moment. You want Kier gone, I want Kier gone. So in the interest of making that happen, I'll point you in the direction of her apprentice, who I believe you know from the Squatter's Mall." Mercy gave her a full grin now, exposing fangs to a terrifying effect.

"That sounds like a trap," Fuse said nervously.

"For him, most certainly," the vampire said. "There's an abandoned house in Redmond, at the north end of Chiphead Row. The Halloweeners were using it as a BTL-burning joint, but they cleared out real fast after Tlaloc nuked their boss."

Anna grit her teeth. She wasn't feeling up to going toe-to-toe with a combat mage. "I assume he's not alone."

Mercy tapped the surface of the bar, activating an AR display. Anna activated her contacts so she could peer into the virtual world. Full simsense made her sick, but this she could do. Waiting for her was an image of a familiar-looking mage flanked by two big orks in armored jackets. "He's got some former cylons with him."

"You sure they were corporate security?" Paladin said grimly. "They look like gangbangers to me."

"Much like me, Paladin, these gentlemen are more than they appear on the surface," the vampire said. "Honestly, I am almost offended that you don't appreciate the accuracy of my intel."

"Forces estimate?" Church said, cocking her head slightly as she studied the image.

"Sadly, my charity is at an end." Mercy stood up and flicked the image, sending a copy straight to Fuse. "Enjoy the club."

"You can't just—" Paladin started to growl.

"Be careful, Paladin," the vampire said almost innocently. "You've barely got any essence left. It'd be a shame to lose it over this."

"Thank you, Mercy," Anna said, well aware that some smoothing-over needed to happen. She wanted to be on good terms with Banshee's owner, and not just because she was afraid of dying. Mercy was a powerful adept with a lot of connections in Redmond. She would be a useful contact. "We'll do what we can about Kier."

The phys-ad smiled. "I look forward to our next meeting, Gemini. Do try not to get dead. It'd be such a waste."


	8. Getting Acquainted

Anna sighed, sitting down at the table with a carton of noodles cupped between her hands. The steam rising from the container's open lid smelled like heaven. "I could definitely get used to this," she said wistfully.

"I assume you mean the food and not the threat of death looming overhead," Doc said as he finished stitching up Church's side. It was just the three of them in the kitchen. Paladin was cleaning his weapons in the living room and Fuse was completely jacked in, doing...something.

Church seemed amused, though it was hard to tell with her sometimes. "It's food."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I don't know what the Vory pays you, but if you get ramen with actual meat in it all the time, sign me the frag up." She pulled apart her chopsticks and started to eat. She felt pretty damn good that they'd survived so far. Having a safe place to stay and an excellent meal made life seem downright aces.

Doc dressed the wound with ease, and then nodded to Church. "Take good care of it," he said. "I'll take another look when we meet up again."

Anna looked up from her food. "Church, are you headed out?" she asked. There was a definite pang of anxiety through her body at the prospect, but she knew Church probably had a lot of other things to take care of.

"I am," Church said as she buttoned up her shirt. With the new dressing, it was hard to even see the bandage. "I need to see to things at home. The sovetnik would also like a word with me."

"Is he mad?" The mage was definitely worried now.

The Russian picked up her jacket. "Most likely."

When she saw Anna's expression, Church shrugged. "Whatever evil he has in mind will not touch you, I promise. If you need me, call. If I do not answer right away, I am with the sovetnik or attending to another important matter, but I will get back to you as quickly as possible."

Anna nodded, trying not to fixate on the fact that the cleaner could be in trouble. "I'm sure I'll be okay. The four of us can hold our own," she said.

Church gave her a brief, barely there smile. "You can. That was shown to me as much as to Mercy." She gave the dwarf a nod. "I owe you, Doc."

"I know you're good for it," the dwarf said as he started to wash up in the sink. "Goodnight, Church. Try to get some rest and go easy on the sutures."

"No promises," the Russian said. She looked back at Anna. "Be safe."

Once the Russian was out of the house, Anna heard the creak of the couch in the living room. Paladin eased his chromed bulk up out of the seat and stepped into the kitchen. "Everything okay?"

"Other than Church catching Antonov aggro, yeah," Anna said with a sigh.

Paladin shrugged a little. "I'm sure she'll be fine. He's a vicious son of a bitch, but Church is a fragging terminator and a half."

Doc chuckled. "That's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say about her."

"Credit where credit is due," the street sammy said as he sat down at the table. "The Ice Maiden of Moscow has earned it."

Anna sighed. "I know you don't like her, Paladin, but she's saved my life more than once."

Paladin studied her for a long moment, expression serious. "Just be careful, Gemini," he said finally. "People like Church don't have happy ends. Stand too close, and you might draw the spade with her."

"Do you know much about the Vory?" Anna asked curiously. For all her time at Ikon, she'd spent most of it keeping her head down. Times like this made her curious.

"Enough to say I don't like their style of doing business. They've elevated _I don't give a frag about human life_ to an artform beyond compare. Dealing with them is like free-swimming with great white sharks. They smile real nice, but those teeth aren't there to be friendly." He leaned back in his seat.

Doc shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, they're awful. Cry me a fraggin' river. Syndicates are just the more honest version of corps."

"Speaking of corps, what's the deal with this Tlaloc bake-brain?" Paladin asked, studying Anna. He was clearly trying to be non-threatening with the question, judging by his softer tone. "Cylons?"

"Mercy said he's tied to Aztechnology, or at least he used to be," Anna said. She knew she needed to be careful here. She couldn't afford to lose her protection, at least not now. "He came to Seattle with a team of nasties, led by a mage who goes by Kier. She's the woman who attacked me."

Paladin paused for a moment and then took a deep breath. "Look, Gemini, if you want my help, trust me. Why are they after you?"

"I don't know for certain, not the real reason," Anna said. She felt something inside of her shift as the spirit stirred. "Tlaloc might be able to shed some light on that." She looked at Paladin. "They're into some seriously bad magic. If you want to bounce, I understand. It's not a pretty picture."

"I'm not going to bail on you, Gemini," Paladin said firmly. "How many of them are there?"

Anna found herself insanely grateful for her team. Paladin apparently did have a soft spot for hard luck cases. "From what Mercy said, the team was Kier, a big cybered bruiser named Xiuhcoatl, and two apprentices: Tlaloc and Nenetl. Tlaloc is a combat mage and Nenetl specializes in mind magic. Both are incredibly dangerous."

Paladin gave her a smile. "So are we. We'll be alright."

Doc pulled over his own carton of ramen after hopping up into a seat at the table. "Or we'll be dead, and then who cares?" the dwarf said cheerfully.

"You're a bucket of rainbows, Doc," Paladin said, shaking his head.

"Thanks, Paladin," Anna said, giving him a small smile. She couldn't bring herself to buy the optimism yet, but hearing it was reassuring all the same. He knew better than her, didn't he? Paladin was a veteran of the shadows, though he'd spent longer with Knights Errant. Still, a lifetime in the gutter had taught her to be...realistic.

Fuse jacked out and came over, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Welp, it's a dump even by Redmond standards, but there's some spiffy new camera coverage and a Matrix presence with so much ICe on it that Santa and his reindeer are probably frozen solid in it somewhere. I did a little look-see, but if I poke that, my brain will be beyond extra crispy."

Paladin scowled. "You saying you can't do it, kid?"

"Look, Gemini's a stone-cold fox, but I have an allergy to flatlining," Fuse said, starting to fidget when Paladin glared. "Got hooked on this oxygen drek when I was real little, and it's some primo jazz. I ain't giving it up if I can avoid it."

"No hard feelings, Fuse," Anna said with a small smile. "I haven't got the nuyen to make it worthwhile anyway."

"Hey, I'm not out of this crazy caper yet," Fuse promised. "I'm just going to need a back door." He set a little black chip connected to a set of wires down in front of them. "This here is exactly that. Exploit in splice form. Doc'll know where it needs to go."

Doc frowned thoughtfully. "We'll need to be inside to do that."

"You got any more of that sexy illusion magic, Gemini?" Fuse asked. "Maybe distract the sensors or whatever? Show 'em a little leg?"

Anna shook her head, but she was more amused than despairing. "Before or after I join the crispy critter club? That combat mage almost had me for lunch last time I ran into him."

"Aww, c'mon. No tricks?" Fuse said, sitting down at the table. He drummed his fingers on the table with perpetual energy.

"I didn't say that," Anna said. "I've got a get out of jail free card, but I don't think I could hit Paladin, Doc, Church, and myself with it. Invisibility is more of a one-target sort of thing."

Paladin looked impressed. "Quite the trick."

Anna smiled a little. "Girl's best friend in Redmond. The hard part is the amount of concentration it requires and how bad the drain is." She wasn't about to admit that the last time she'd attempted it, she'd knocked herself unconscious. Granted, that was when she was testing her own limits in the safety of her own lodge.

"Well, if you can cast invisibility on yourself, the cylons aren't as likely to hit you," Doc said reasonably. "As for the rest of the team going in...Church and I are pretty sneaky. Paladin should probably stay and guard Fuse."

The former security officer frowned. "I should go in. Gemini will need all the protection she can get."

"She'll have Church. Are you saying our resident terminator isn't up to the task?" the dwarf said with amusement, cybernetic eyes studying Paladin. "I bet she'd be thrilled to hear the critique."

"I'm saying I don't trust her with it."

"I do," Anna said firmly.

Paladin's frown became a scowl. "She's aces at de-rezzing people, yeah. Protecting them? Not so much."

On this particular matter, Anna didn't much feel like budging. Instead of digging in her heels, though, she changed tack and hit him with the full effect of her crystal blue eyes. "Please, Paladin. I need Church's help, but I need yours too. You can't help me if you're tearing each other's throats out."

He sighed, but his resolve seemed to soften. "And if you're wrong?"

"We run the hell away," Anna promised.

Paladin shook his head slightly. "Fine. I hope she appreciates you seeing all this good in her," he said. "Not that I'd believe it with her type."

"I'd be careful throwing around assumptions. Liable to put an eye out. You probably know the least about her, out of everyone in the room," Doc grunted. "Church is dependable. Brutal sometimes, yeah, but so is every shadowrunner under the right circumstances. Besides, she seems to like Gemini well enough. Church isn't about to leave our mage in the lurch. That's what dependable means."

"And if they try to buy her off?" Fuse said.

Doc just chuckled. Anna was on the same wavelength. She'd seen a lot of low-lifes flush with cash try to bargain with Church to avoid a curb-stomping. Not once had they ever earned themselves anything but a face full of cement. Granted, that was on behalf of the Vory. Anna doubted Church's loyalty to her was that deep.

Paladin pushed away from the table. "You mentioned something about a meet somewhere, Gemini?"

Anna nodded. "Tonight at Nina's Teahouse near Ikon. It's not related to this job, though. Just some private business."

Paladin raised an eyebrow. "That's...quite the place."

"Quite the ladies," Fuse said with a grin. "Well, and gents."

"A friend runs it. She wanted to do some catching up and she's pretty nocturnal," Anna explained. It wasn't really a lie, just a gloss over the nature of the conversation to be had. It wasn't really their business anyway.

"I'll give you a lift. If these cylons are a problem for you, you shouldn't be without backup," Paladin said.

"Or I could," Fuse said with far more eagerness.

"Kid, you might be a hotshot decker, but you couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag," Doc said with a grin.

Anna smiled a little at that, before eating the last of her ramen. Then she stood up, grabbing for her jacket as she moved to throw her styrofoam food container into the garbage. "You can always visit on your own time, Fuse," she said lightly.

"Fair enough," the ork said. "Stay safe out there, Gemini."

Doc chuckled. "No love for Paladin?"

The ork shrugged. "He can take a bullet or two. Mages are delicate."

Paladin shook his head slightly as he levered himself up and grabbed his armored jacket. "We should probably get you some armor at some point, Gemini," he said. "Fuse is right."

"I know. It's just so heavy and hard to move in," Anna said, heading for the door with Paladin at her heels. "Usually I just disappear. Haven't been shot so far."

"Still," the street sammy said, slinging his sword over one shoulder. His other weapon, a Colt Manhunter, was under his jacket. It was the kind of gun that could mess someone up bad. He led the way out to his car, which looked suspiciously like a decommissioned cop car, packed with acceleration and good handling at high speeds.

Anna sighed. "Give me a little credit. I can get myself out of snags sometimes, you know."

Paladin gave her a small smile. "So I shouldn't get your door for you?"

"Chivalry's all well and good, but I'm serious," the mage said as she turned to look at him. "I'm part of the team, just like Church. I don't see you catching the door for her."

He studied her for a moment. "Point taken, Gemini," he said respectfully. "You did do a number on those Ancients."

"Damn right I did," Anna said, opening the door on her side of the car. She knew for a fact that she couldn't protect herself alone from a team like the one they were going head-to-head with, but she wasn't going to be useless either. "I deserve a sticker."

"So who's your friend?" Paladin asked once they were both in the car, starting the engine.

"Like I said, the owner," she explained. "Saying we go way back would be a bit much, but she and I do get along pretty well."

He nodded a little bit. "Nina's is certainly an institution. I take it that's how you know Church?"

"I know her from Ikon, not the Teahouse," Anna said, settling back in her seat as they drove. She doubted she would ever be able to convince Paladin that there was good in Church, but she hoped someday he would catch a clue. Then again, maybe she was being an optimist.

Church's smile when she made that call gave Anna the distinct impression that there was more to the Russian's story than what was immediately obvious, however much cynicism was probably warranted.

"You don't seem like the Ikon type. Or the Redmond type."

"That's weird, because it's the only home I know," Anna said. She raised an eyebrow as she studied him. "I see Knights Errant training is hard to get rid of. I feel like I should ask for a lawyer."

Paladin chuckled. "It _is_ hard to break the habit. Still, I meant what I said."

"Ikon's not so bad. Kinda sleazy, but there's good people," the mage said with a shrug. "It's been pretty kind to me, all things considered. I had basically nothing when I was younger. Ikon, for all its bad, changed that."

She knew that Paladin was searching for a diplomatic way to carry the conversation forward. He changed tack. "And the magic?"

"You _are_ majorly nosy," Anna said with a laugh. "My dad left me his drek. Amazing he could sling a spell given all the BTLs he hopped himself up on, but I managed to learn a little from him." She sighed a little. "He was pretty FUBAR by the end."

"I'm sorry."

Anna grimaced. "Don't be. He was a piece of drek. Anyway, you can drop me at Nina's."

"Comm me when you're done. I'll give you a ride back."

"You got it," the mage said. She wasn't dumb enough to go it alone. Not when she could easily be tracked. There was a difference between being self-confident and being suicidal. "By the way, it's your turn to dish now."

Paladin seemed amused. "So what do you want to know?"

"Let's start with why you're helping me."

It was his turn to shrug. "I try to lend a hand when I can. Plus, Doc's the one who installed my cyberware. I consider him a friend."

It was a reasonable answer as far as Anna was concerned. "After the Yak?"

Paladin grimaced. "I take it that particular story is still running around? Yeah. That hurt like a sonuvabitch, but I learned my lesson: don't try to save syndicate types. They're bad to the core."

"Not all of them," Anna said.

"Pretty optimistic for a Redmond girl," Paladin said with a small, wry grin.

"It's a special kind of stupid," she agreed.


End file.
